


Tides will bring me back to you

by puppybusby



Category: Warrior Nun (TV)
Genre: Angst, Blood and Injury, F/F, Kidnapping, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn, bc im still figuring the story out, these tags are such a bummer
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:06:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 27,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27751276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/puppybusby/pseuds/puppybusby
Summary: Ava knew that ambushes were by nature, supposed to be a surprise, but this was fucked up.Ava didn't wait for any of the others to reply, she grabbed the sword and phased through the van, vaguely aware of Beatrice calling out her name.She wasn't about to let a group of assholes hurt her friends.
Relationships: Sister Beatrice/Ava Silva, Sister Lilith & Ava Silva
Comments: 71
Kudos: 280





	1. Cruising through the doom days

**Author's Note:**

> Anonymous said:  
> One where Adriel holds Ava hostage and she’s not doing well (injured and slowely worsening) but she somehow manages to send messages and reach the girls, who had been a mess (especially Bea who’s never felt worse) and they do everything they can to find her (Bea is not resting until she finds her and neither is big sis Lilith)
> 
> Oh boy or BOY when I say I was hyped when I saw this prompt... Though I quickly realised this wasn't gonna be something I put into a few chapters there's SO MUCH potential
> 
> So hey, hope you enjoy the ride
> 
> Fic title from "Deathbeds" By Bring Me The Horizon
> 
> Chapter title from "Doom days" By Bastille

"Ava. " Beatrice laughed quietly and pushed her hand away. "I'm not interested in your candy." 

"You need the energy!" Ava protested. 

Beatrice shushed her through her laughter. 

It was the early hours of the morning and the others were asleep in the back of the van. 

The last few weeks spent on the road hadn't been ideal, actually, it had been pretty stressful and with a definite undercurrent of fear about the forces pursuing them. 

But there were still moments about it that Ava loved. The sing alongs with Camila, staying up all night (and regretting it the next morning) with Mary while she drove. 

Even the rare moments when it was just her and Lilith awake were nice, if not a bit awkward still. 

But the times when Beatrice was driving and it was just the two of them awake? It was the best time. 

They were back in Spain at last, after taking as many detours as they could to try and make sure they weren't being followed. It was a lot more comforting because Mary had a much larger network of contacts here _and_ they were finally going to set up in a safe house.

Ava was so ready to sleep in a proper bed. 

"You shouldn't be complaining, it's your candy. More for you isn't it?" 

"Sharing is caring isn't it?" Ava smiled. 

Beatrice rolled her eyes. "You should be sleeping." 

"Boring. I'll sleep when you sleep." 

Beatrice gave her a side eye. 

"Would you prefer me to be quiet?" Ava asked. 

Beatrice turned off the main road and hummed thoughtfully. 

"No. I enjoy your company." 

Ava grinned and threw more candy into her mouth. 

She turned back to Beatrice in time to see headlights rapidly approaching. 

It immediately felt like she was a child again. 

Ava glanced down. Beatrice's seat belt was on. 

She threw her arm across Beatrice's chest just as the van hit the drivers side. 

The van rolled and Ava could hear the confused yells behind her, the crunch of glass and metal as the van came to a sudden stop. 

They were definitely upside down. 

"Ava-" Beatrice gasped. "Ava, are you okay?" 

She was in pain. There was blood in her eyes and it hurt to blink. 

There were men getting out of the van. 

"What the fuck happened?" Mary groaned. 

Ava spotted the guns and rushed to unclip her seat belt and dropped to the floor… The roof? Being upside down was confusing. 

She could see Beatrice struggling with her seat belt as there was a scrambling of noise behind her. As much she was terrified, there was something comforting about the noise around her. 

It meant her friends were okay. 

Ava knew that ambushes were by nature, supposed to be a surprise, but this was fucked up. 

Ava didn't wait for any of the others to reply, she grabbed the sword and phased through the van, vaguely aware of Beatrice calling out her name. 

She wasn't about to let a group of assholes hurt her friends. 

  
  


\--

Beatrice's head was pounding. 

Her ears were ringing. 

And her damn seat belt was stuck. 

"Ava wait!" She called as the other girl phased through the van towards their attackers. 

"Get the doors open Lilith!" Mary yelled behind her. 

"I'm trying." 

Beatrice tried to shift enough to pull the knife from its holster, her fingers were brushing against the tip of the handle but she couldn't get a grip on it. 

Her gaze shifted back to the fight unfolding outside. To Ava taking on half a dozen men alone. 

She just needed to get to the knife, cut the belt and get to Ava. 

There was a burst of light and Beatrice didn't need to look up to know Ava was using the halo now. She still did and was glad she did. 

Faint streaks of blue from weapons at several of the men's hips. 

"Mary! They have divinium!" Beatrice yelled and she was fully aware of the panic making its way into her voice. 

"Fuck, Lilith!" 

An angry growl and heavier slams, creaking metal. 

Beatrice strained harder and felt her fingers get a grasp on the knife and pulled it out. 

She sawed through the belt in a few quick slices and immediately reached for the door handle. Stuck. 

Beatrice glanced at the cracked windscreen and braced herself as she started to kick at the corner, willing herself to add more force with each strike. 

Ava yelled out as she was struck in the side and hit the ground. 

"Mary!" 

"I know Beatrice, we're trying!" 

When there was a gap that seemed big enough to get through, Beatrice threw herself forward herself, ignoring the pain in her ribs and the cuts she could feel as she caught herself on the glass. 

She hit the floor gracelessly and adjusting her grip on her knife as she pushed herself up ran towards the attackers. 

Her side pulsed painfully. 

Ava rolled out of the way of another attack and got to her feet. 

Beatrice threw her knife at the closest man, watching it sink into his shoulder. As she reached him she grabbed the knife to pull it out, only for him to throw his elbow back into Beatrice's side. 

The burst of white hot pain confirmed her suspicions about a possible broken rib. She tried to push past the pain and punched the man in the throat. 

A barrel of a gun connected with her head and the cry of pain she let out was involuntary, as she stumbled to the ground Beatrice saw Ava spin to her, eyes wide with fear. 

"Beatrice!"

Ava took a step towards her when Beatrice saw one of the men raise a blue blade and drive it into Ava's back. 

Beatrice tried to call out but could only wince as her own blood splattered onto the road, the copper taste was heavy in her throat. 

Ava screamed as she collapsed, the halo pulsed with energy, knocking back the man. 

Beatrice willed her limbs to move, could feel the gravel digging into the skin as she tried to drag herself to Ava's aid. 

"Bea! Ava!" Camila's voice barely broke through the haze of Beatrice's focus. 

"Grab her, we need to move." One of the men held. He threw something aside as he pulled Ava off of the ground.

Another quickly got on Ava's other side and together they dragged Ava to their van and threw her into the back. 

"Ava…" Beatrice choked out, coughing around another mouthful of blood. 

Mary sprinted past her, firing her guns at the van as it peeled away. 

Beatrice felt like she was going to throw up. 

As the van disappeared from view, Beatrice dropped her forehead to the ground and closed her eyes against the tears she could feel burning behind her eyelids. 

A hand pressed against her back. 

"Bea, Bea are you okay?"

No. 

"Did you get the plate?" Beatrice asked, she grimaced as she tried to push herself up and quickly tempered down the emotion on her face.

"Don't move, you're hurt." 

"I got the plate." Mary said. 

Beatrice lifted her head and watched Mary pick something off of the ground. Lilith walked over to Mary and took it from her, inspecting it carefully. 

"Knife handle, blade is broken." 

"It's divinium." Beatrice said. Camila helped her sit up as best as she could. Beatrice wiped the blood from her mouth. "They stabbed her with it." 

"Bea, I think you need a hospital." Camila said. 

Mary and Lilith were at their side as soon as she said that. 

"We need to go after them." Beatrice protested. 

"The van is totalled and you look… Really hurt Beatrice." Mary pointed out. 

Lilith looked in the direction that the van had disappeared down. "We'll get her back, but we all know that she will be mad if we don't get you help first." 

Beatrice dropped her gaze to the floor, taking in the broken glass and blood scattered across the tarmac. 

Her sisters didn't seem as hurt as she was and Beatrice knew that there was no level of protesting that would make them change their mind. 

They'd find Ava. They had to. 

  
  


\--

After grabbing what they needed from the van, the group set out to find the nearest hospital. 

It was made slightly more difficult by them not knowing where they were and the fact that Beatrice was a lot more hurt than she was letting on. 

Lilith had seen the crumpled driver side door, as far as she was concerned it had been a miracle that Beatrice had even walked away from it with her life. 

Mary and Camila seemed to only have minor injuries, bruises from being flung around in the back while Lilith had walked away without injury. 

She supposed that she had her newfound abilities to thank for that.

When they got to the hospital, Camila opted to go in with Beatrice and leaving Mary and Lilith to wait outside. 

"What's our next step?" Lilith asked. 

Mary sighed and lit a cigarette. "We need to get a new vehicle for a start. Get to the safe house. We'll need to run that plate, it's the only lead we've got at the moment." 

"Those guys weren't from the Vatican." Lilith said. 

"Definitely not. This is all Vincent." 

"We need to move fast." Lilith pointed out. "Adriel wants the halo and there isn't going to be anything stopping him from taking it now." 

Mary's glanced at Lilith. "I know." 

"She's still alive." 

"Is that a statement or optimism?" 

"Statement. I can sense Ava." 

Mary raised both eyebrows as Lilith looked away. 

Lilith didn't know how to explain it, much like how she found herself at the Vatican, Lilith just knew that somewhere in the edges of her senses there was a soft pulse of energy pulling at her attention. 

She knew it was Ava. 

"We should split up." Mary decided. 

"I agree. I'll stay with Beatrice, you and Camila are much more suited for information gathering." 

"Fine. You go and find her." Mary scanned the parking lot. "I'll get us a ride." 

  
  


\--

Beatrice saw Lilith slip through the curtain while the nurse finished off the last stitch above her eyebrow. 

"What's the diagnosis?" Lilith asked. 

"I've given her something for the pain," the nurse explained. She stepped away from Beatrice and pulled off her gloves, moving to dispose of them before turning to Lilith. "We're waiting for the x-rays and for a bed, we'd like to keep her in overnight for observation at the very least." 

Beatrice watched Lilith nod thoughtfully. 

"We thought it would be worse." Lilith admitted. 

"Your friend is a trooper, I'll give her that much. Very stubborn though."

Lilith raised an eyebrow at Beatrice. "Oh?" 

"Perhaps you can convince her that it's for her own safety."

The nurse cast another look at Beatrice before leaving them alone, as soon as she was gone, Beatrice stood up and grabbed her jacket. 

"Oh no you don't." Lilith crossed the room quickly and pushed Beatrice back down onto the bed. "You heard what she said." 

"If I was as bad as she thinks I'd already be on a ward." Beatrice pointed out. 

"You were spitting blood onto the road!" Lilith hissed. 

"And now I'm not." Beatrice said. "I've got fractured ribs and a concussion at most." 

"You're not leaving." 

Beatrice did her best to glare at her friend. "Every minute we waste here is another minute Ava gets further from us." 

"We will figure it out." Lilith said, her own glare was much more intense but Beatrice refused to wilt under it. 

"Ava-" 

"Is still alive." Lilith interrupted. "I can sense her Beatrice. She's alive." 

"For how long though?" Beatrice asked. "Until they get her to Adriel? How long will that take?" 

"Listen to me." Lilith dropped her voice to a whisper as she glanced around, conscious that the curtains around them only provided the illusion of privacy. "Mary and Camila are going ahead to the safe house. They're going to start tracking her down, but you're not going to be able to help Ava if you've got a broken rib and it punctures a lung." 

"We're drawing too much attention to ourselves by being here." Beatrice pointed out. It was a weak argument, but Lilith clearly wasn't about to back down. "What if they call the police? What do we do then?" 

"Then we adjust the plan. But until then you're not leaving this hospital." 

"Lilith-" 

"You're staying. You're being really suspicious and if you leave then _that_ will be what draws the attention." 

Lilith dropped down into the empty seat and crossed her arms, never breaking eye contact with Beatrice. 

At this point, Beatrice wouldn't be surprised if Lilith resorted to manhandling her to make sure she stayed put. 

"We will find Ava and we will make them pay for this." Lilith said again. 

Beatrice really wanted to believe her. 

  
  


\--

When Ava woke up, it was to a burning pain in her back. 

Ava cried out as she rolled over, falling off of whatever she had been lying on and hitting concrete hard. 

When Ava lifted her gaze, she took in her surroundings. Briefly focusing on the bars in front of her. 

"What the fuck?" She whispered. 

As Ava pushed herself to her knees, the pain in her back echoed through the rest of her body, she brought a hand up to press against the centre of the halo and grimaced as her fingers brushed against something sharp. 

When she looked down at her hand, it was streaked with blood. 

Panic flared in Ava immediately. 

The crash. 

Beatrice getting hit and dropping to the ground. 

She remembered being stabbed. 

"You're awake." 

Ava's head snapped up at the familiar voice, pulling her from her panic before it could spiral any further. 

It was replaced by anger as soon as the source of the voice stepped into view. 

"Vincent." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short opening chapter, I admit but as I start to get into the flow of it, it will no doubt increase
> 
> As usual, you can find me [here](https://yashastrongarms.tumblr.com/) \- I am still open for requests but I am going to be slowing down in working through them because my furlough ends this week and I have to go back to being a human again ): But this ship will be keeping me sane
> 
> Stay safe!


	2. What’s your hurry? Everyone will have his day to die

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Monday! 
> 
> Chapter title from "Outsider" By A Perfect Circle (Because apparently I can't resist having chapter titles for ~drama~)

Vincent stood before her, regarding Ava quietly. 

"You know if you missed me so much you could have just called. This?" Ava gestured around them. "Bit excessive."

Vincent tilted his head and stepped closer to the bars that separated them. 

"You've all been hard to track down, when I got the call I almost didn't believe them." 

"Where's your friend?" Ava asked. "I would have thought he'd be here." 

She hoped that the anxiety wasn't showing on her face. The last time she'd been face to face with Adriel he hadn't exactly hesitated before trying to rip the halo from her. 

"He’s nearby. Don't worry, you'll see Adriel soon." 

Ava wondered how long she had. She had to escape before then. 

She was surprised by the lack of restraints on her though. Vincent, of all people, knew what she was capable of. 

"Why did you do it?" Ava asked. "We trusted you." 

"This was always the plan." 

"You used me." Ava grabbed the bars. "You used me to set him free and you… You _killed_ Shannon." 

Vincent glanced away quickly. "She knew the risks." 

"Oh fuck you." Ava snapped. "You're lucky that these bars are between us." 

This time his smile was almost patronising. "You're all words and bravado." 

"Yeah? Come in here and say that."

That damn smile didn't fade and Ava felt another wave of frustration settle. She felt the halo flare as she instinctively tried to phase through the bars. 

She just wanted to slap that stupid smile off of his stupid face. 

As soon as she felt the halo activate, Ava was immediately met with a blinding pain in her back. 

Her knees buckled from underneath her as she fell to the floor, the breath knocked from her with such an intensity that she couldn't even scream out. 

"Like I said, all words." Vincent crouched so that they were level. "Divinium, even in small amounts, can be quite detrimental to you. I'd save your strength if I were you." 

The knife she'd been stabbed with. 

Was that what she could feel in her back? 

Ava lifted her head enough that they could see eye to eye. 

"I'd imagine that the halo is also what is keeping you from bleeding out. Try not to die before Adriel can see you." 

Ava took several large breaths before she felt confident enough that her words wouldn't fail her. 

"When Mary finds us… You'd better run and hide like the coward you are." She said. 

Mary was going to kill him, and Ava wasn't sure that any of the others would be able (or would want) to stop her. 

"Naive of you to think that they're going to come for you at all." 

He got to his feet and walked away, leaving Ava alone to her thoughts. 

The pain in her back didn't ebb much and Ava could definitely feel trickles of blood down her spine. 

The halo was useless. 

She didn't know what to do now. 

  
\--

"This is the place?" Camila asked as Mary switched the engine off. 

Together they took a moment to observe the building in front of them, the sun had finally risen and, at least to Mary, it felt like the events of the last few hours were really beginning to set in. 

Ava, gone. Beatrice, injured. 

They were broken apart.

"Yep. One of Mother Superion's. Completely off the books." Mary got out of the car and stretched. "Not even the rest of the OCS know about it." 

It was one of six that she had been given the location of in the days after they had gone on the run. 

Camila followed her and took in the house. 

To outward eyes it looks like nothing more than your standard little holiday home, tucked away off of the main road and entirely unassuming. 

Mary just hoped that there was food. 

And power. 

She cast a glance in Camila's direction. "Come on." 

Together they grabbed their few belongings from the trunk of the car and made their way to the front door. 

There was a safe tucked away and Mary quickly punched in the code and grabbed the key. 

The first thing Mary did was flick the switch in the hallway and let out a pleased hum when the lights came on. 

"Set up what we have in the living room, I'll do a quick search and see if there's any laptops hidden away." 

"Of course." 

Mary searched each room quickly. It was a modest three bedroom. Two bathrooms and fully furnished. It was almost too nice, but Mary supposed that was part of the home's cover. 

The closet that had been turned into a miniature armoury was a nice touch.

She returned to Camila ten minutes later, a laptop she had found in one of the bedrooms tucked underneath her arm. 

Camila had already set up what equipment they did have and had survived the crash and was in the process of connecting her tablet to her laptop. 

"Here." Mary set it down and dragged a chair to sit beside Camila. 

"Thank you." Camila murmured. She pointed to the tablet as she started to inspect the laptop Mary had brought her. "Can you type the vehicle registration in there?" 

Mary complied and sat back to watch Camila work. She had to admit that she had no idea what Camila was doing, when it came to anything to do with technology, Mary was all too happy to leave that to Camila or Beatrice. 

"Do you think Bea is okay?" Camila asked. 

"I think she's stressed." Mary replied. "She had to watch the whole thing play out while she was trapped. That can't have been easy." 

Mary had never heard Beatrice sound so afraid, even when they discovered Adriel, her voice had still been carefully neutral despite the wide eyed panic on her face. 

And then there was her resistance to going to the hospital, the desperation that seemed to radiate from her. 

It was extremely unsettling. 

"Bea and Ava had gotten very close." Camila continued. 

"We all have." 

"Do you…" Camila looked up from her laptop and glanced worriedly at Mary. "Do you think we'll find her in time?" 

"I don't know." Mary admitted reluctantly. She didn't want to be the one to voice it, but to say anything else would have felt like a lie. "But we have to hope, okay? We don't give up."

"No giving up." Camila agreed. "I uh… Need to hack into some things." 

"What kind of things?" 

"Governmenty things? I need to find out where the van came from, I’m going to need some time." 

"Okay." Mary got to her feet and gave Camila's shoulder a squeeze. "I'm going to have a cigarette and see what security we’ve got. Do you want me to see if there's any tea hidden away?" 

Camila's smile was small but genuine. "Yes please." 

Mary wondered if there was coffee.   
  


\--

Beatrice had always had somewhat of a stubborn streak, but Lilith couldn't think of a time where it had shone through as clearly as it had over the last few hours. 

The girl had steadfastly refused to go to sleep, Lilith knew that the only reason she hadn't tried to leave the bed once she had been moved onto the ward was because Lilith had pulled up a chair and taken up vigil. 

They hadn't spoken, both equally lost in their own thoughts but united on what they were thinking about. 

Ava. 

Lilith didn't know what Beatrice was thinking, she could only imagine that it was stemming from a source of guilt. 

Beatrice had seen everything, all Lilith knew about the crash and subsequent fight was from the sounds of her calling out to Mary as she tried to free herself. 

As for Lilith, she was trying to pull at the thread in her mind. That small warmth she could feel that she just _knew_ was Ava and the halo. 

So long as that warmth was there, she knew Ava was alive. What Lilith didn't understand was the barrier that seemed to be blocking her from following it. 

They all had so many questions about Lilith's abilities, what it made her now, how she had been able to find her way to them back at the Vatican. 

The thread metaphor had been all she had been able to come up with, she'd followed it - followed Ava. 

If she could just do that again, they'd be able to save her. 

At some point during their introspection, Lilith found that Beatrice had dozed off and a closer inspection confirmed that it was genuine. 

Lilith didn't like feeling suspicious of her friend, but part of her couldn't shake the feeling that Beatrice would consider doing something reckless. 

She slipped from the ward quietly in search of coffee. It was unlikely that she was going to be getting any real rest anytime soon, after all. 

After finding a machine and getting a cup of what appeared to be some extremely bad coffee, Lilith found a quiet corner and retreated into it. 

When the nurse from the emergency department came onto the ward and made her way towards the front desk, Lilith shrunk further into the corner as her instincts threw a giant red flag up. 

"Jamie?" The nurse behind the desk greeted her with a confused smile. "What are you doing up here?" 

Jamie smiled. "Clocking out soon, I wanted to check on a patient I sent up here earlier?" 

"Which one?" 

"Said her name was Denise, didn’t give a last name either. Car crash, concussion and fractured ribs." 

Even from her spot, Lilith could hear the doubt in her voice. 

"She's still here, so is her friend. Neither of them have left… What's wrong?" 

Jamie shrugged. "Something seems off. She wouldn't give a last name, didn’t want to do the paperwork and the story just didn't seem to add up." 

Lilith set her coffee aside and tried to shift closer to listen. 

"They just seem like scared kids." The other nurse dismissed. 

"You didn't hear what I heard." Jamie said. "Look, apparently a car was stolen from the parking lot not long after they got here." 

Lilith pinched the bridge of her nose. They were definitely in trouble. 

"I've already told security what I know, they checked the security footage. There was another girl that came in with her earlier, she's disappeared." 

"Shit, you think they're involved?" 

"Yeah, look. This is just a heads up. The police will probably be here soon." 

Yep. Big trouble. Beatrice was right and their time was up. 

Lilith quickly made her way back to Beatrice, slipping unnoticed past the nurses as they continued to gossip. 

She was still asleep and Lilith felt a little bad as she shook her awake. 

Beatrice only looked confused for a few seconds before she sat up. "What's happening?" 

"We need to leave, now." Lilith threw Beatrice her jacket. "Police are going to be here soon." 

"I told you!" 

"Yes yes, you were right. Now listen, I'm going to go and set up a distraction. Take the fire exit and get to the parking lot, I'll meet you there." 

"How?" Beatrice winced as she slid from the bed. 

"You let me worry about that."   
  


\--

"Mary! I got something." 

Mary was at Camila's side instantly. "You don't sound super enthusiastic." 

"It's a rental. I've got the information of the guy who rented it but…" 

"But?" 

"Address looks like a shut down restaurant and it's under the name 'Jason Mendoza'." Camila frowned as she turned to Mary. 

Mary had the distinct feeling that she was missing something. 

"Okay? But that's a name at least?" 

"The name of a character from a netflix show. It's fake." 

Oh course it was. 

“Can you run the fake ID? Facial recognition and all that?”  
  
Camila sighed. “I can try but we just don’t have that software here, I need to try and hack into the police databases and they’re harder than a record of vehicles.”

Fuck. Back up plan then.

"What's the address?" 

Camila handed Mary a slip of paper. "It's a couple of hours away, it's closer to home than it is to here." 

Mary frowned. How long had these guys been following them? 

"Okay, it's the only lead we've got so let's hit the road and-" Mary stopped as her phone began to ring, she shared a look with Camila before she pulled it out and answered it. "Lilith?" 

_"We have a problem."_

Of course they did. 

"What's wrong? Is Beatrice okay?" 

_"As fine as she can be. The staff suspect us and they know about the car you took, police are on their way."_

"Oh shit." 

_"I'm getting Beatrice out now, are you at the safe house?"_

"Shit, yeah. Look, get out of the hospital and find somewhere to lay low. We got a lead on the van, I'll come and get you and we can go check it out." 

_"Not to sound pushy, but can you hurry?"_

"I'm leaving now. Keep me updated." 

"What's happening?" Camila asked. 

"Hospital drama. Beatrice is okay, you up for a change of plans?" 

Camila nodded. "What do you need?" 

"Can you hack into security footage?”  
  
“Depends on what type.”   
  
“Gas stations?”   
  
Camila grinned and waved a hand. “Child’s play.”   
  
“Good. Comb through any gas stations within say, thirty mile radius of where the crash happened and see if you can find them." Mary said. 

Camila nodded. "I got it. You go get the others." 

Mary was already heading towards the door. "Call me the second you find anything!" 

"I will, now go!"  
  


\--  
  


  
As far as distractions went, flooding the bathroom felt more like something a rebellious teen would do at school, but if it got the job done then Lilith wasn't about to complain. 

She had considered pulling the fire alarm, but to do that in a building full of the sick and injured just felt wrong on a whole other level. 

Besides, her distraction was enough for Lilith to slip out of the hospital unnoticed and she quickly found Beatrice in front of the hospital, leaning heavily against the wall. 

"I called Mary." Lilith said as she reached her. "She's on her way. She also said they got a hit on the plate." 

That got Beatrice's attention. "What did she say?" 

"That we had a lead and that we'll go investigate when she picks us up." 

"How long will she be?" 

"As soon as possible." Lilith glanced at the hospital. "Are you okay to walk? We need to put some distance between us and this place." 

Beatrice nodded. "Let's go." 

  
\--  
  
  


Ava had spent much of the morning wondering if it was just her and Vincent in the prison. Every now and again she would hear footsteps in the distance but nobody ever came into her view. 

More importantly, Ava wondered just how many abandoned prisons there were in Spain - what were the chances that she would be in the same building she had visited only a few short months ago with J.C and the others? 

That was assuming they were still in Spain. She was fairly certain that they were. 

Eventually, two men covered in tattoos appeared with a sandwich and a bottle of water, one of them kept a gun trained on her while the other opened the door to place the food down. 

The lack of a wraith possessing either of them unsettled Ava. These guys were here of their own will. 

As they locked the door back up, Ava stepped closer to the bars. 

"Hey, so… Any chance of some painkillers or something?" 

"Not a chance." 

"Seriously? Dude, I've got a knife in my back!" 

Both men started to walk away and Ava let her forehead eat against the bars. 

"Not even like, a handful of bandaids?" She called after them. 

No response. 

"For fucks sake." Ava sighed as she retreated back to her corner. 

She was starting to get tired now too and Ava couldn't be certain if it was because of her injury or a genuine exhaustion setting in. 

She couldn't let herself fall asleep.   
  


\--

It took a conscious effort on Beatrice's part not to fall asleep in the backseat. 

Despite how wired her brain was, the aches and pains throughout her body were beginning to take their toll. 

After Mary and Lilith had filled each other in on everything that had developed during the few hours apart, the car had fallen into an unsteady silence. 

Beatrice couldn't help but think of the few weeks crammed together in their van. The silences back then had been rare but comfortable. 

Camila and Ava had been exceptional at small talk and holding long conversations about absolutely nothing. 

"I think this is the place." Mary said, slowing the car down as they crawled past a boarded up Greek restaurant. 

"Pull around the back." Beatrice spoke up. 

Mary glanced at her in the mirror but complied. 

As the three observed the building, Beatrice saw Mary produce a handgun and turn to offer it to Lilith. 

She leant forward to take it before Lilith could. 

"Oh no, you're staying here." Mary said. 

"No, I'm not." Beatrice replied. She slipped the magazine out and inspected it before clicking it back into place. "I understand that you're trying to help, but we're stronger together. Plus I'm a better shot than Lilith." 

"Excuse me?" Lilith raised an eyebrow.

"You heard me." 

It was as close to their usual banter that Beatrice could manage. For a moment the tension that had been around them all lifted. 

"Okay okay, reel it in you two." Mary rolled her eyes. "We'll go in through the back, keep it tight."

"Just because it looks empty, it doesn't mean that it is." Lilith nodded. 

Beatrice sincerely hoped that it wasn't empty.   
  


\--

When it came to the reconnaissance side of missions, Camila would often find herself getting bored quickly. 

It was all that she was allowed to do for a while.

Memorising building layouts and gathering intel? While she was easily one of the best at gathering that information now, especially when it required a more technical approach, Camila would much rather be in the field. 

She'd gotten a taste for it now. 

But this was where she was needed. Her friends needed her to do this. 

Ava's life depended on it. 

So Camila sat and steadily combed through hours worth of security footage looking for that one tiny needle in a haystack. 

When she was about ready to start pulling her hair out, Camila's gaze spotted her golden goose. 

At a little after two in the morning, the van pulled into a gas station twenty miles from where Ava was taken. 

A young male, mid to late twenties got out, most of his face hidden underneath a baseball cap as he filled the van and paid at the pump. 

The quality of the camera was subpar at best, but one thing Camila noticed was the limp he sported as he made his way back into the van. 

It was a small detail, but it was enough for Camila to go on. 

After grabbing a screenshot of the figure, Camila turned her attention back to her other laptop, it was a little more involved but Camila knew she had a better chance of getting a clearer photo if she could get into the rental company's systems. 

She'd already gotten the information of the vehicle and which branch the vehicle had come from, so from there it was just a case of Camila getting into that branches system and sitting through their footage from the time leading up to when the van was collected. 

After spending ten minutes watching the staff work, typing on their computers, answering the phone and helping the customers who walked in, Camila was reminded of why she chose this life in the first place. 

It all just seemed very mundane. 

She sped the footage up and waited.

When a man entered the branch with a clear limp, Camila couldn't help but fist pump the air. 

The picture quality was clear enough to show off his features and it was a definite match to the fake ID he'd provided to get the van. 

She just needed to figure out a way to get into some more heavily encrypted systems to run his face and figure out who he was. 

If Camila could get into traffic cameras outside, she was fairly confident that she would be able to track him and hope that he would lead her to the rest of his group. 

She knew that she needed help, if she had been at Cat's Cradle it wouldn't have been much of an issue. They had the software she needed for facial recognition. But now she definitely needed help from someone with a lot more money and resources behind them. 

Camila reached for her phone and hesitated. 

Should she call Mary first? She'd managed to track the driver down but without any real identification it felt like useless information. 

Camila scrolled through her contacts and after taking a steadying breath, hit dial. 

It rang for several moments before she was met with a curt greeting. 

_"I was wondering how long it would take to hear from one of you."_

"Jillian," Camila breathed. "We need your help." 

_"I'm going to regret giving you this number aren't I?"_

Quite possibly, Camila agreed silently. 

_"What is it? As you know I'm dealing with problems of my own right now."_

"We have a lot to catch you up on." Camila replied. "But long story short? Ava has been kidnapped, her life is in danger and I'm trying to get identification of the men who took her." 

Jillian was silent for several moments as she digested the information. 

After the events at the Vatican, they hadn't had much contact with Jillian. They'd spoken to Kristian though, and he'd told them what had happened to Michael and they'd responded with a brief run down of what they had encountered. 

_"I can help, but this needs to go both ways. I help you get Ava back, but I need her help in return."_

Camila breathed a sigh of relief. "You know she'll help you however she can, what do you need?" 

She couldn't quite shake the feeling that she was making a deal with the devil.   
  


\--

There was very little Ava could do in terms of finding a comfortable way to sit, the only position that didn't seem to send pain radiating through her body was to lie on her stomach. 

Which definitely wasn't going to happen. Even though Ava didn't particularly fancy her chances in a fight right now, lying on her stomach just felt way too much like letting her guard down. 

She wondered how the others were doing. If they had been injured in the crash. 

Ava knew that Beatrice had been, could still picture her hanging upside down from the seatbelt and bleeding from her head after getting struck with the gun. 

She felt cursed. Everybody she cared about seemed doomed to be injured or killed in car accidents. 

"What did you expect? You shouldn't even be alive in the first place." 

The familiar voice sent Ava's blood cold. 

She looked up to see Adriel standing before her. 

"Get out of my head, asshole." She managed to bite back. 

"Lost little lamb, thrown to wolves." Adriel tutted. 

"And you're the wolf, I assume?" 

Adriel smiled. 

Ava got to her feet and walked as close as she dared to the bars. She wanted to shrink, to run. 

Beatrice had once told her she was flight, not fight. 

Not anymore. Not today. 

If this was it, she was terrified, sure. But Ava refused to give him any of the satisfaction this time. 

"If you're going to do this, get it over with." Ava said defiantly. She was proud that her voice only wavered a little. 

She'd never see her friends again. She'd never sing terribly with Camila and make her laugh with equally terrible jokes. 

No more riling Mary or Lilith up with her puns or inappropriate language. 

And Beatrice. 

God, Beatrice. 

The puns they told, their secret smiles and quiet looks that felt like they held the world between them. 

Ava was glad to have met them. 

She wished they'd had more time. 

"So eager to see the other side already?" Adriel stepped closer and brought his hands up to rest against the bars. "I'm sorry to disappoint you." 

Ava's breath caught in her throat.   
  


\--  
  


  
Beatrice kept the gun raised while she held her side with her free hand. 

She was really starting to wish that they had some painkillers. 

"Place is empty." Mary confirmed. 

Lilith glanced at Beatrice and raised an eyebrow a silent _"Are you okay?"_

Beatrice nodded and pressed forward as they examined each room closer. 

All that seemed to remain was a few discarded cigarettes in an ashtray. 

The disappointment was heavy in the air. 

"We knew this was a possible dead end." Lilith said quietly. 

Beatrice leant against a counter and sighed. She was right, but it didn't ease the sting of that knowledge. 

"Hopefully Camila will have turned up more." Mary said. 

Beatrice hummed as she inspected the counter, curious, she brushed her finger along the surface. 

"Whoever was here hasn't long left." She said as she held her finger up to show the others. "No dust." 

"Do you think they'll come back?" Lilith asked. 

"It's a possibility, depending on what Cam turns up, we could definitely come back and stake the place out." Mary replied.

Almost on cue, Mary's phone began to ring. She pulled her phone out and answered it, switching it to speaker. 

"Tell me you've got something Cam, we're looking at a ghost town here." Mary said. 

_"Yeah… Yeah I got something."_

They all shared hopeful looks. 

"What have you found?" Lilith asked. 

_"Okay so I found gas station footage but it was super blurry, so I hacked into the rental branch and got a clear shot of the guy using the Jason alias. I'm working on trying to track his movements after he left to see if we can identify the other kidnappers."_

Beatrice straightened up and moved closer to Mary and Lilith. 

This could be a real lead, it was the first genuine glimmer of hope that she had felt since before the crash. 

"Go Cam!" Mary grinned. "I knew you could do it." 

_"Um… There is one other thing though."_

"What?" Lilith asked dubiously. 

_"So I only have limited resources. I had to make a call and get us some help."_

Mary glanced at Beatrice. "Who?" 

_"Jillian. I needed her help. I… I had to make a deal with her."_

"What kind of deal?" Beatrice asked. 

There was a beat of silence that went on just long enough for Mary and Lilith to share another worried look. 

"Cam, what does she want?" Mary pressed. 

_"She wants her son back."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I spent yesterday curled up on the sofa at my parents with a notebook plotting out this story properly.  
> 2 pens and 72 pages later? Gang, I've got the whole story roughly planned out and oh bOY it's gonna be a long one
> 
> Thank you to you all for reading and all of the lovely messages - every ask i've had on tumblr makes my heart melt. 
> 
> As always, you can find me [here](https://yashastrongarms.tumblr.com/), drop me a message or pop up on chat and we can cry about our feelings together
> 
> Until next time!


	3. Like a ghost in the silence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello I am sorry it's been nearly a month but I AM BACK on this fic so lets get this show on the road
> 
> Chapter title also from "Deathbeds" By Bring Me The Horizon

Ava was more than a little confused, apparently that much was clear from her expression. 

"All in good time little Ava." 

Okay, make that confused and pissed. 

"You see, you're not the only one who has taken something from me." Adriel explained. "And with that shard of divinium in your back, you and I both know you won't be going anywhere."

"You think I won't just pull it out?" Ava asked. 

"If you're so eager to perish, then by all means. Go ahead." He swept his arms out dramatically. 

Part of Ava wondered if he was bluffing, if it was just his way of keeping her powerless and restrained.

But then she thought back to Shannon, to how she had died. That had been because of divinium. The halo in its current state just wouldn’t heal this kind of wound fast enough.    
  
If she pulled it out, would she be able to get away fast enough or would she just be dooming herself to dying in this cell?

It was food for thought.

“What do you mean, I’m not the only one who took something from you?” Ava asked instead.

Adriel scoffed. “I wouldn’t expect you to understand.”

Didn’t villains like to monologue their dastardly evil plans? Get with the program man.   
  
“Try me.”   
  
“Another time, perhaps.” Adriel stepped away. “There’s a lot of work to be done. I wouldn’t get too comfortable.”

For fucks sake. Give a girl something to work with.   
  
“Likewise.” Ava replied. 

He wanted to be a shitty movie villain? Ava was going to make sure he had a fitting downfall. 

More importantly, she needed to figure out how she was going to get herself out of this.

  
  


\--

Camila clearly had been hard at work while they had been gone. 

A painting lay forgotten in a corner of the room, the space it once occupied was now dedicated to finding the identities of the men that had taken Ava. Blurry photos outside a gas station, pictures taken from the security footage she had gotten from the rental branch. Even a crudely drawn map covered a decent portion of the wall.

Apparently Camila had found a sharpie and had just decided to roll with it.

Lilith was impressed though. Sometimes Camila still felt like the baby of the group but Lilith had never had a reason to doubt her potential.

The last few weeks had only proven that further.

“So we were right that the restaurant was relevant.” Mary said as she traced the map. “That was where they all met up.”    
  
Camila nodded as she turned in her seat to face them all. She gestured to the single photo that she had of the group. “Six men, our guy with the limp seems to have been their driver. Trying to blow the pictures up ruins the quality a bit, but Jillian seemed optimistic enough that she’d be able to get us some results.”

Lilith watched as Beatrice got up slowly from her seat and walked over to join Mary’s side, observing the board intently.

She didn’t miss the way Beatrice had to hold her side as she moved.

Judging from the look of concern that flashed over Camila’s face, neither did she.

“Could they be possessed?” Camila asked.

“No.” Lilith shook her head. “I would have sensed it.”   
  
“Men for hire then.” Mary pulled out her phone. “Better for us. I’ll reach out to my network, see if anyone knows them. Finding out who they are is pointless unless we know where to find them.”

“It’ll be faster to have your guys and Jillian working on it.” Camila agreed. She turned back to her laptops and began to type. “I’ll send you the pictures.”   
  
“You said that Jillian wants Ava to bring her son back.” Beatrice spoke up for the first time since they had left the restaurant. She turned to face them. “What exactly does she expect Ava to do?”   
  
It had been the question burning in Lilith’s mind for a while and there was only one conclusion that she had managed to draw.

“I would imagine that she wants to try to open the portal again and when she does, to have Ava go through to find him.” Lilith said carefully.

She had no doubts that Beatrice had already come to that conclusion herself, that they all had. But thinking it and having somebody voice it were entirely too different things.

That much was made evident by the way Beatrice’s carefully neutral expression fell for the briefest of moments. Enough for Lilith to see the fear and anger that seemed to lie just beneath the surface.

The idea of anybody going there scared Lilith, even with the gap in her memory she knew in her heart that it was a place nobody should ever go. 

But there was something in Beatrice’s expression that unnerved her further.

“No.” Beatrice shook her head. “We are not going to save Ava from Adriel just to… To send her to hell.”

Mary glanced up from her phone at Beatrice’s words and shot a quick glance in Lilith’s direction. 

Lilith remained silent, uncertain. What reassurance could she offer? 

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.” Mary said eventually. “If we tell her that the deal is off then we lose her help and it wastes more time.”

“Mary’s right. We need her at the moment, Bea.” Camila agreed, her voice was gentle as she addressed Beatrice. 

Beatrice closed her eyes briefly and turned away from them, focusing her attention back to the board.

“How long until we get results?” She asked.

“Hopefully only a couple of hours. Jillian has someone she trusts working on it. She’ll send through anything she finds but promised to have them call us directly with last known locations.”

It’s hard to tell if Camila’s answer did anything to reassure Beatrice. All Lilith could see were the lines of tension in her body.

She was a string pulled taut. 

Lilith wondered how long it would be until she snapped.

\--

If there was one thing Ava was good at, it was pushing limits.

Usually that was just in terms of people. Being as much of a pain as she could to annoy the nuns at the orphanage or more recently, teasing and being innapropriate around Lilith until the girl threw something at her.

But as far as Ava was concerned, pushing limits could extend to herself too.

Sure, using the halo had hurt like hell when she had woken up and okay, the lack of restraints beyond the bars made her think that Vincent and Adriel were more than a little confident that the shard in her back was enough to render it useless.

But also fuck them. She needed to know for herself how much, if anything, she was still capable of.

The memory of the pain still seemed to echo through her, and Ava could feel her anxiety rising as she braced herself against the bars as she anticipated the pain her body seemed to know was coming.

Just phase through the bars.

Her fingers flexed around the cool metal as she hesitated. 

“Fuck it.” She said to herself.

She focused on the halo and felt the familiar warmth begin to flood her veins.

It was quickly replaced with a burst of pain in the centre of the halo as it shot outwards, spreading down her arms and wrapping around her chest as everything went white.

\--

“So what exactly are you doing?” Lilith asked.

She’d been exploring the house and had inevitably found Camila in what she assumed used to be a garage, hidden behind several monitors.

Camila looked up at her from behind a pile of wires and gestured to the screens. “Security feed. Handy to have but useless in here.”

Lilith frowned at the screens. “They’re blank.”   
  
“Yeah? I had to turn them off so that I could bring them into the living room.” Her smile only felt a little bit patronising.

“Good plan.” Lilith replied. She chose to blame the lack of sleep for her own ridiculous observation.    
  
Camila looked as though she was going to ask something but quickly snapped her mouth shut as they both heard footsteps approaching. They turned as Mary appeared in the doorway.

“Hey, what are you guys doing in here?” She frowned as she took in the room.

“Surveillance equipment.” Camila gestured to the monitors once more. “There are cameras all over the grounds of this place.”   
  
“Moral support.” Lilith offered.

“Right… Beatrice?”   
  
“Around here somewhere.” Lilith said. “I think she needed some time alone.”   
  
Mary nodded and pulled out her phone. Lilith knew that she would be doing that frequently until they got any answers. “Look, I’m going to take the car and head into town. Get some gas, clothes and supplies. I’ll only be gone an hour, two tops.”   
  
“That’s fine.” Camila replied. 

“Anything specific we need?”    
  
“If you can get some painkillers… Strong ones, it would be appreciated.” Lilith said. 

There was very little she could do to ease Beatrice’s emotional pain, but for the physical pain? This felt like the most that she could offer her friend at the moment.

“Got it. Two hours tops, okay? If you hear anything from Jillian before i’m back-”   
  
“We’ll call you.” Camila nodded.

They fell into a brief silence as Camila continued to work after Mary had left, it felt like an age had passed before Camila spoke again.

“I’m worried about Bea.”

“I know. I am too.”

“Have you ever seen her act like this before? I know she isn’t exactly forthcoming with her emotions but... “ Camila trailed off with a frown.

“I haven’t. And I know what you’re trying to say.” Lilith replied.

Beatrice was always the rational one, emotions under control and focused on the mission.

She was focused now, Lilith couldn’t deny that, and to an outsider she probably looked like her emotions were under control.

But things were just a little off, the axis had tipped enough for Lilith and Camila to know that the mask was barely on.

And as for rational? Lilith couldn’t be too sure.

Beatrice was injured. She needed rest and yet still fought tooth and nail against stopping even for a moment. Lilith got the feeling that if she could, Beatrice would be out there now trying to chase down the leads on her own.

“All we can do is be there for her I supposed.” Camila said eventually. “Let her know she can talk to us if she needs to.”

"It'll be easier once we have a solid lead, at the moment it just feels like we're chasing ghosts and that's what makes it frustrating." 

Camila nodded in agreement. "We just need to stay on track." 

A burst of pain burst through Lilith's chest unlike anything she had ever experienced before. 

Even the tarask impaling her barely compared. 

As her vision faded behind a burst of white, Lilith was distantly aware that she was crying out. 

Maybe she was screaming. She didn't know. 

Images flashed through her. 

Ava, gripping metal bars, knuckles white, expression twisted into a pained scream. 

Smears of dried blood clung to her skin. 

She was pale and clammy. 

The room was bathed in a flickering golden light tinged with streaks of blue. 

As she watched Ava fall to the ground, Lilith felt like she was experiencing nothing short of an out of body experience. 

Everything faded into silence. 

"Lil?" The voice was panicked, the hand on her face firm. "Lilith?" 

Lilith opened her eyes and found Camila staring down at her, eyes blown wide with fear. 

Lilith wondered when she had ended up on the floor. 

"Are you okay?" Camila asked. "What happened?" 

Lilith moved to sit up, the pain had been so brief, so intense that it's sudden absence felt stranger than its appearance. 

Camila dropped her hand from Lilith's face and moved to press it against her back to support her. 

"I… Don't know." Lilith admitted. "I saw Ava?" 

"What?!" 

Lilith recounted what she had seen, the way the room looked, how Ava had seemed and the distorted light of the halo. 

Camila was silent for several moments, sitting back on her heels as she processed the information. 

Whatever was going on, there was one thing that seemed to be certain to them both. 

The connection that she had with Ava and the halo extended so much further than just being able to sense her. 

"We need to call Mary." Camila said. 

Lilith nodded. 

"Should we tell Bea?" Camila added quietly. 

They both glanced up towards the ceiling to where they assumed Beatrice was. 

"I don't know." Lilith sighed and after a long pause added, "Probably." 

To know the extent of Ava's pain, would that be a tipping point for Beatrice? 

To keep it from her though, wouldn't that be worse? 

"We should tell Mary first." Lilith said eventually. "I don't know how to move forward with this." 

\--

Beatrice hesitated by the door, cautious to make sure she kept out of view. 

She'd heard Lilith's cry of pain and by the time she'd made it to the garage, she had heard Lilith recounting her experience to Camila. 

Beatrice was frozen as she heard Lilith describe Ava and how pale she had seemed. 

Surely that was enough of a tell that they had to start acting now?

They had to be running out of time. 

"Should we tell Bea?" She heard Camila ask. 

"I don't know." 

A spike of anger made itself known in Beatrice and she quickly turned to walk away. 

They were going to keep it from her? 

Could they be hiding more? 

Why would they  _ want _ to hide it from her? 

Beatrice's mind was racing with questions and for the first time in several hours, those questions weren't in direct relation to Ava. 

She hadn't missed the way the others had been looking at her, how it felt like they were walking on eggshells whenever they were in the same room. 

It was clearest in the moments she had spent with Lilith. The way that she hadn't left her side when they were in the hospital. 

Oh. 

Lilith thought she was a flight risk. 

As Beatrice reached the kitchen and pulled an ice pack from the freezer to press against her ribs, she had only one question to ask herself. 

Was Lilith right? 

\--

Mary placed the bags on the backseat and got behind the wheel once more. She rubbed her eyes with one hand as she dug her phone out of her pocket. 

She scrolled through until she found the number she was looking for, it was one of the only contacts she hadn't assigned a name to, and for his reason. 

They shouldn't be talking, and while there was very little risk to Mary if they were caught, the repercussions for the other woman could be detrimental. 

It rang twice before there was an answer. 

_ "I told you not to call unless it was an emergency."  _

Her voice was hushed and Mary could vaguely hear the telltale tap of the cane amongst hurried footsteps. 

"Mother Superion," Mary began. "believe me when I tell you this is an emergency." 

A brief pause. 

_ "What happened?"  _

"Adriel and Vincent. They've taken Ava." 

Silence. Mary knew that Mother Superion had stopped in her tracks. 

_ "Taken?"  _

"Lilith can still sense her and the halo. She isn't dead. We have no idea why." 

_ "Do you have any leads?"  _

Mary cracked open a can of energy drink and took a long drink. She really didn't see herself getting any real rest for a while. 

"A couple, we're working on tracking the men who took her and hoping that gives us something to work with." 

Mary heard the briefest sigh on the other end of the line. 

_ "And the others?"  _

"Camila is fine, Lilith is… I don't know, she's okay but we're all full of questions about what exactly is happening to her." Mary hesitated for a moment and wondered how much she should say. "Beatrice got injured when we were attacked, concussion and fractured ribs but other than that… It's just a lot of concern and worry." 

_ "I will see if there is any talk amongst the others. They are in the process of assigning a temporary replacement for me to oversee the Sisters still in Cat's Cradle."  _ Mother Superion explained.  _ "I am hoping that many of them remain loyal to our cause and protecting the halo rather than submit to Duretti's agenda."  _

Here was fucking hoping. God knows they needed all the allies they could get. 

"Thank you, keep me posted?" 

_ "Likewise. Are you at the safehouse?"  _

"Not at the moment, but we have set up operations there." 

_ "I trust you found the armoury okay?"  _

"In the closet? Yeah." 

Mother Superion laughed.  _ "No, not that one. There's an additional garage at the back of the property, you will find the key beneath the moss covered stone."  _

Mary's phone vibrated and she pulled it from her ear to see Camila's name flash across the top of the screen. 

Oh, that couldn't be good. 

"Mother? I have to go." 

She ended the call and answered Camila's quickly. 

"What happened?" 

_ "It's Lilith…. And Ava."  _ Camila replied.  _ "Lilith had a… I don't know how to describe it."  _

There was brief movement on the other line as the phone changed hands. 

_ "I saw Ava. Felt her pain, the halo was lit but it was different."  _ Lilith explained.

Mary started the engine and backed out of the space. "Different how?" 

_ "Flickering, and I saw a blue glow."  _

The divinium knife...   


Was it still in her back? 

"I'm on my way." 

Fuck. Things just kept getting weirder. 

\--

When Ava came to, it was the absence of pain she noticed first. 

So much so that it took a solid few moments for her to realise that she was no longer in her cell. 

No. She was back in her room at Cat's Cradle. 

And she wasn't alone. 

In the doorway was a figure that Ava had only seen once before, in her dreams. 

The concern on the girl's expression made something in Ava's chest ache. 

_ Shannon.  _

"Am I dead?" Ava asked. 

She pulled herself off of the floor and looked around the room, she could see the sunlight filtering in through the window but couldn't feel its warmth. 

When she pressed her hand against the bed, she could feel the contact but not the softness that should have followed. 

"You're not dead." Shannon replied as she stepped further into the room. "Just unconscious." 

"Okay cool, so I'm just losing my mind?" 

Honestly, with everything that had happened over the last few hours, this was just starting to cross into the territory of absolution mind fuckery. 

The corners of Shannon's lips curled into a small smile as she glanced around the room before focusing on Ava. 

"Don't worry, it'll only be something to worry about if this starts to happen while you're awake." 

"Seeing you when conscious equals big problem. Got it, I'll keep that in mind." 

Ava pressed her hands to her face and took a deep breath. God, this was so fucked up. 

"Do you know what's going on?" Ava asked. 

"Only as much as you." 

Cool. So not much then. 

"So I don't suppose you know how the others are doing then?" 

She needed to know if they were safe. If Beatrice was okay. 

Shannon looked sympathetic. "I'm sorry." 

Ava sighed. 

"If I can reach Mary, I will." Shannon said. "It's different than you though, Ava. It's the halo that keeps us connected." 

"The halo." Ava scoffed. She sat down on the edge of the bench and ran her fingers through her hair. "The halo is useless." 

"The halo is what is keeping you from bleeding out." 

"I'm starting to get the impression that all it's doing is delaying the inevitable." 

"You're looking at it the wrong way." Shannon said. She walked closer and sat on the bed beside Ava. "Look at it as a way to buy time. If Adriel wanted the halo, he would have already taken it, right?" 

Ava nodded. "He said that I wasn't the only one who had taken something from him. Any idea what that means?" 

Shannon looked thoughtful for a few moments. "Possibly the divinium? The OCS and the Vatican have a decent supply, but there's still some out there that had been lost to time." 

Not to mention the divinium that had been running through Michael's veins. 

"Good shout, but that still doesn't explain why he's keeping me alive. There's something else, I just know it." 

"Ava." Shannon shifted off of the bed and knelt down on the ground in front of her. "We're going to figure this out. Know that I'm here with you. The halo will guide the way, have faith and don't give up." 

Don't give up on the halo? 

Maybe it was just like a damaged muscle. Maybe the divinium wasn't blocking its abilities per say, just hindering them. 

Ava wondered if she just had to train herself, teach herself to push past the pain and maybe then she could get the halo to function. 

"No giving up." Ava repeated with a nod. "Okay." 

"Okay?" 

"Yeah. Fuck Adriel, we're going to stop him." 

Shannon grinned, an almost mischievous glint in her eyes. "I can see why Mary likes you." 

Ava got to her feet, she had to assume that the others were trying to look for her but without a clear way to make contact with them and no guarantee of how long she would have with Shannon, Ava knew she had to utilise this time carefully. 

There was a tiny part of her that still wasn't completely convinced that Shannon wasn't just a pain induced hallucination. 

"Okay, we need to compare notes, tell me all the dirt on Vincent and I'll tell you what I saw when he tried to take the halo from me back at the Vatican." 

At the mention of Vincent, Shannon's grin fell. "Ugh. That bastard." 

Ava couldn’t help but laugh. "I can see why Mary liked  _ you."  _

It wasn’t the team up Ava had been expecting, but fuck, if she wasn’t glad for it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it isn't the longest update, but I'm definitely betting on the word count bulking up as the story develops more - I just didn't want to keep this in fic limbo any longer
> 
> I'm also going to try and get ahead of myself and write the next couple of chapters? Idk i am still trying to figure this whole thing out
> 
> But hey, as always, you can find me [here](https://yashastrongarms.tumblr.com/) come say hi!


	4. Backs up against the wall, I feel guilty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lowkey regular update?? From me? Look even i'm surprised right now 
> 
> Chapter title from 'An act of kindness' by Bastille

"Mary told us he had a past with the cartel but shit, I didn't realise it went so deep." Ava said. 

The guy was like the fucking Godfather. 

His power had certainly waned over the years and Shannon wasn't certain what had driven him underground, only that she suspected it was the discovery of Adriel's existence beneath the Vatican that had pushed him to taking the guise of a Father. 

Clearly though, he still held enough power to get a small militia of men to work for him. 

"Yeah, he's a lot more dangerous than he appears." Shannon said. "However, he has other people do his dirty work so he can hide safely in the shadows." 

"Like what he did to you…" 

"And to you." 

Ava sighed. "Okay, so safe to assume there may be more cartel members than just the two guys who bring me food." 

"You said six were there when you were kidnapped, so the current count is at least eight." 

"That's right." 

The pair had found themselves on the floor as they had each rushed through their stories, both equally unsure on how long it would be before Ava regained consciousness. 

"Can we go back to what you saw as Areala?" Shannon asked, leaning forward and resting her hands on her knees. 

"What are you thinking?" 

"You said the tarask followed him through the portal almost immediately?" 

"Yeah." 

Shannon hummed thoughtfully. 

"Aren't they attracted to the halos energy though?" Ava asked. "That was what I was told when they had me wear the vest thing when they lowkey kidnapped me." 

"They are." Shannon nodded. "But for one to immediately follow him out of the portal? It just… Seems weird." 

"What are you saying?" Ava asked, mimicking Shannon's position and leaning forward. "That the tarask was chasing Adriel before he came here?" 

Ava could feel a heaviness in her limbs, a distant pain slowly making its presence known once more. 

Well, it was nice while it lasted. 

"Possibly… I don't know." Shannon pinched the bridge of her nose. "The divinium in the walls of his tomb stopped the tarask from getting to him, maybe he's keeping it in you with the shard to hide its signature." 

“Even if i’m still trying to use it?” Ava asked. She felt a stronger pulse of pain and knew she didn’t do a good job of hiding it.   
  
“Perhaps.” Shannon’s expression quickly grew concerned. “Are you okay?”   


“Pain is back.” Ava took a grounding breath. “I think i’m waking up.”   
  
Shannon fixed her with a serious look. “Remember what I said. I’m with you, even if you can’t see me.”   
  
“And if I do see you, then we worry.”   
  
“That’s right.” Shannon replied with a small smile.

\--

“So…” Beatrice glanced at Mary and Camila before focusing her gaze on Lilith. “Run me through it one more time.”   
  
She leant back against the wall and folded her arms across her chest.

Lilith met her gaze head on.

“I’m still trying to piece it all together.” Lilith said. “There was a flash and I saw her, clutching bars, the halo was flickering and I saw blue.”   
  
Just like how she had explained it only a few minutes earlier. No mention of the pained expression or the blood. No mention of the way Lilith screamed in pain when it had happened.

They were intentionally omitting information from her.

Beatrice wasn’t sure what to do with that knowledge.

Did she call them out? They were supposed to be a team, they were supposed to trust each other.

She tried to think of reasons as to why they would keep that information from her.

Did they think she couldn’t handle it? But why? She had been through the same experiences that they had. The only thing different this time was…   
  
Ava.

Beatrice dropped her head to the ground and figured that the others would interpret her sudden silence as her picking apart Lilith’s story.

Were they keeping Ava’s pain from her to protect her feelings?   
  
Which led to the follow-up question of… What feelings were they trying to protect?

Did they think something was going on between her and Ava?

No. No, she couldn’t think about that now. 

The silence had already stretched on for far too long.

“The blue is divinium, isn't it?" Beatrice asked. "From the knife which means it must still be in her."

"We don't know that for sure." Mary pointed out. 

"Don't we?" Beatrice lifted her head and met Mary's gaze. "Ava is in a cell, her sword is here what else could it be?" 

If she was right, and Beatrice was certain that she was, then that meant Ava was much more injured than they had originally thought. 

The halo wasn't going to be able to heal her with the shard in her back. 

If it were to be removed she'd bleed out without some form of medical attention. 

Or a miracle.

And Beatrice was willing to bet that Adrian and Vincent were relying on that to keep Ava in line. 

More than that, the shard would also explain why Lilith saw Ava's face twisted in pain. It would be rendering the halo relatively powerless. 

They couldn't keep wasting time like this. 

"Have you heard anything from Jillian?" Mary asked, turning to Camila. 

"No, what about your guys?" 

Mary sighed. "All I've had is the confirmation that they're looking." 

Beatrice held her arms tighter to her chest as she looked to Lilith once more. "Describe the room again." 

"Walls and floors were concrete, metal bars, no window. Cot against one wall, toilet against another. Nothing identifiable." 

"Except it sounds like a prison cell." Beatrice replied. 

"It could easily be a basement too." Lilith said. "Vincent has his cartel links, they could have easily turned a basement into a holding cell." 

"But what if it isn't?"

"Are you suggesting we just start looking at prisons?" 

"Abandoned ones specifically, but yes." 

"And if it's a dead end?" 

"Then at least we can rule that out." Beatrice dropped her arms and pushed herself off of the wall. "This is the  _ only  _ lead that we have and I'm not comfortable just sitting here twiddling my thumbs waiting for a grieving mother and people I don't trust to do our jobs for us." 

Beatrice hadn't been aware that she was raising her voice until Mary stepped in front of her, throwing one arm out to halt her from moving any further towards Lilith. 

"Beatrice! Enough." Mary levelled her with a stern look. "You may not trust those people but I do. We have limited resources so we need their help." 

Beatrice didn't relax at Mary's words, but she did take a step back. 

"I get what you're going through Bea, I do." Mary continued quietly. "But don't assume that we aren't doing everything we can to bring her back, you have to trust us, remember?" 

Trust? 

Trust was a big word when they hadn't even told her the finer details of Lilith's vision. 

Beatrice couldn't shake the feeling that the trust between them had fractured and wondered if the others felt it too. 

"Fine. I will be looking into the prison theory." 

Mary seemed to relax, if only slightly as her shoulders dropped. "That's fine." 

Lilith and Camila were both silent. Lilith hadn't taken her eyes off of Beatrice the entire time while Camila's gaze flitted to each of them in turn. 

Beatrice stepped around Mary and left the room. It was only when she reached the top of the stairs did Beatrice take a deep breath. 

She was done with waiting around. 

Beatrice was going to follow this lead. 

Even if she had to do it alone. 

\--

It felt like none of them dared to breathe until they heard a door close upstairs. 

Camila felt some of the tension ease as she let out a breath. 

"I don't feel good about that." She admitted. 

Mary dropped down onto the sofa as Lilith rested her elbows on her knees and pressed her face into her hands. 

"We can't keep it from her," Lilith said. "She's already figured out the blade is still in Ava." 

"Which means she knows Ava is injured." Mary added. "The only piece she's missing is how sick Ava looked." 

"Assuming she hasn't come to that conclusion herself." Lilith muttered. 

"Do we have to keep it from her?" Camila asked. "We're supposed to be a team, teams don't lie." 

Neither Mary or Lilith would look at her. 

"I do think we should tell her." Lilith said eventually. "But… she's already on the edge, what if this tips her over?" 

Camila sighed. 

Keeping it from Bea was their only way of protecting her. 

But it wasn't right and they all knew it. 

"I know she’s pushing us away but we should try to talk to her." Camila said. 

"Not as a group." Mary said immediately. "It'd make her feel ganged up on, we've already established that it's hard to get her to open up when we're all together." 

"I've known her for the longest." Lilith spoke up, lifting her head to finally meet Camila's gaze. "But I'm not good at getting into emotions." 

"I'm the other way around." Camila replied. 

She was pretty good at reading Beatrice's moods and had drawn some assumptions of her own as to Beatrice's history, but that was the problem. 

They were just assumptions, she knew very little about Beatrice or her life before the order. 

"And I think I might get what she's going through." Mary said, though she didn't elaborate any further. 

Though Shannon immediately came to mind. 

"So…" Lilith sighed. "Who's going to go talk to her?" 

\--

Ava woke on her side. The room felt much colder than she had remembered it.

In the time she had been unconscious, someone had placed a bottle of water just inside the door of the cell. 

As Ava pushed herself upright, she was met with an unfamiliar and heavy pain in her limbs. 

It may have been from being unconscious and not moving for a while. 

But as Ava reached for the bottle of water, she couldn't help but liken the feeling to the times when she had drained the halo, to the moments when its power filled her limbs once more. 

Would the halo recharge with the divinium? 

Or was it slowly losing power, unable to recharge. 

When Ava shifted to move towards the cot, she was met with an unnerving and grizzly sight. 

A small pool of blood had gathered where she had been lying, smeared across the floor when she had moved. 

"Shit." 

\--

Lilith paced outside the bathroom, she could hear faint movement on the other side of the door. 

She held the painkillers in her hand, the only olive branch that she could offer. 

Lilith knocked the door gently and heard the movement stop. 

"Beatrice? I asked Mary to get you some more painkillers." 

"Give me a moment." 

Lilith listened to the movements resume and a few seconds later, the lock on the clicked and the door opened. 

There were bandages on the counter behind Beatrice and the gauze that had been protecting the stitches above her eye now lay beside them.

"Here." 

Beatrice took them and set them on the counter. "Thank you." 

"How is the pain?" Lilith asked. "Truthfully. I've seen you holding your side when you think we aren't looking." 

"It's far from the worst pain I've known." Beatrice turned away from her, avoiding Lilith's stare in the mirror as she cleaned up the discarded bandages. "It's manageable." 

Lilith couldn't be certain if Beatrice was being entirely honest, though she didn't dare call Beatrice out on it. 

She hadn't exactly been forthcoming with the truth either.

So maybe a different approach. 

"Beatrice, how long have we known each other?" 

Beatrice met Lilith's gaze only briefly before looking away again. "A long time." 

"And I'd argue that we know each other rather well." 

"So it wouldn't be hard to assume that we're both aware when the other is lying." 

Beatrice lifted her head and caught Lilith’s eye in the mirror. "Is this your way of telling me that you were lying about what you know of Ava?" 

Much like when they'd spar, Beatrice didn't hesitate to throw her punches. 

"Not a lie, exactly. More like omitting the truth." 

"Does it make you feel better to phrase it that way?" Beatrice asked, she turned and leant against the counter. 

Beatrice had always been guarded, walls firmly up, but she had never been unkind. 

She wasn't exactly being unkind now, but she was sharp. Jagged edges keeping everyone away. 

Despite her instinct, getting defensive now would only guarantee this to turn into an argument, and while Mary was downstairs, Lilith was supposed to be working on being less confrontational. 

Plus, the brief flashes of anger Lilith had seen from Beatrice had been unnerving, she didn't want to be on the receiving end of it. 

"It doesn't." Lilith replied. "There's nothing about this that could make me feel better." 

There was a brief twitch in Beatrice's jaw as the muscles tensed. 

"How injured is she?" Beatrice asked. 

"I don't know." Lilith replied. "But there was dried blood on her face, she looked pale and clammy. She looked in pain." 

"And did you consider the fact that the reason she looked in pain in that moment was because she used the halo and the divinium is reacting against that?" 

Lilith's silence apparently spoke volumes. 

"This is why you shouldn't keep things to yourself. This is significant information to Ava's condition." 

Business as usual, a throwaway mention of the betrayal she must be feeling. 

Only focused on the mission. 

"You should make the others aware, about the divinium I mean, I assume they already know about Ava's suffering." 

She moved to brush past Lilith, who turned at the last second to catch Beatrice's wrist. 

"Look, I know you, Beatrice. I know what you're capable of, I know you're going to follow this prison theory until we get a hit on the kidnappers, but I need to know that you're going to keep a level head about this." 

Beatrice looked down at Lilith's hand until Lilith relented and let go. When their gazes met, Lilith noticed just how distant Beatrice's expression was. 

"Don't worry. I know what needs to be done." 

Beatrice's words did very little to ease Lilith's nerves. 

\--

  
Ava was bored. 

She was fully aware that she was in a situation where she was actively dying and yeah, the future of life as they knew it counted on her  _ not _ dying and Adriel not getting his hands on the halo… But she couldn't help it. 

It was boring!

It was too hard to string together the threads in her mind, each thought only brought more questions and without someone beside her to act as a sounding board or something to write her thoughts down so that she could try to connect them, Ava was at a loss. 

It didn't help that almost every thought she had was derailed in the face of the pain in her back. 

Except the more that she thought about it, the more it lingered in the rest of her body. Like phantom touches demanding to be heard, once she had used the halo, the aches refused to fade. 

She still didn't know if it was real or all in her head. Ever present fears that she would lose her mobility resurfacing. 

Beatrice’s voice echoed through her mind.

_ "And we will never leave you."  _

Ava tilted her head back against the wall and closed her eyes. 

"I'm not doubting your skills here Bea, but a girl could start to get worried." Ava said quietly to herself. 

Ava thought back to the moments before the kidnappers struck, the quiet and easy conversation between them. 

The stretches of comfortable silence as Beatrice drove and how soft her expression had been as she stared at the road ahead. 

Ava wished she could be back in that moment. 

Wished she could be back with Beatrice. 

Remembering their time together brought about the single most consciously peaceful moment she had experienced since that night. 

Typical it would be interrupted by the approaching footsteps. 

She expected one of the thugs to come around the corner, she even thought it would be Adriel coming to taunt her some more.

Truthfully she shouldn’t have forgotten that Vincent was a part of this whole operation too.

“Gotta say dude, now isn’t the time.” Ava closed her eyes. “I’m not in the mood to humour your bullshit.”

“My men told me about the blood.”   
  
Ava opened her eyes and found Vincent staring at the streaks of blood on the ground.

“Yeah. I’d apologise but also… Fuck you guys? I don’t feel bad for whoever has to clean that mess up.”

There was a bundle of clothing in his arms and Ava watched carefully as he crouched and set the bundle down on her side of the bars.

It looked like an oversized hoody and a roll of bandages.

Was he trying to be nice?

“What are you doing?” Ava asked. “I thought I was supposed to be dying in a couple of days? Why waste this stuff?”

“We need you alive until we are able to tie up loose ends. If you die it causes more problems.”   
  
It took a considerable effort for Ava to haul herself to her feet and drag herself to the bars. There was a brief moment of satisfaction as she saw Vincent take a step back.

She needed to get what information she could from him, that way if she could see Shannon again maybe they’d have more to work with, maybe Shannon could connect to Mary and they could figure out what the fuck was going on.

“So i’ve been told. But come on man, it’s not like I have anything to do here so come on, how does keeping me alive help you guys?”

Vincent’s silence was nothing if not frustrating.

“Cause the only thing I can think of is that this chunk of divinium in my back? That was always supposed to happen, it wasn’t a happy accident. My current theory is that you guys are so fucking scared of tarasks that you’d rather keep me alive to hide where you are, but that doesn’t make sense. The tarasks will come the second the halo is out of my back.”

There was the slightest raise of Vincent’s eyebrows, but beyond that there was nothing Ava had to work with.

His phone beeped and Vincent scoffed quietly as he pulled it out to check it.

“You really don’t understand what’s going on.” He said, not bothering to look up from his phone at her. “Don’t waste your energy.”   
  
“Oh I’m sorry that I’m only working with what i’ve picked up from this fucking cell oh great and wise one.” Ava shot back. “Would it really kill you to humour me here?”

But Vincent was already turning away from her. “I’m sure you can wait a little longer. I have business to deal with. Bandage yourself up, try not to die in the next forty eight hours.”   
  
Very specific time frame.

But God, Ava wanted to punch that face.

\--

Beatrice was firmly settled on the sofa, eyes focused on the screen as she worked. 

If the way her side ached was anything to go by, Beatrice knew that she should probably stretch her legs. 

The pain she felt was probably nothing compared to whatever Ava was going through. So Beatrice merely grit her teeth and continued to type. 

There weren't exactly a lot of abandoned prisons in the country and there was one only a couple of hours away that seemed like a good contender for where Ava was being held. 

If they didn't hear anything back from Jillian or Mary's sources, if the others weren't willing to check it out, then Beatrice would go alone. 

The living room was getting darker, neither her or Camila were willing to get up from their posts to switch the lights on. 

Speaking of Camila… 

There had been an absence of typing from Camila's little area for a while and as Beatrice finally looked over, she found the girl with her head resting on the desk. 

How long had it been since they had all slept? 

She closed the lid off the laptop and got up from the sofa, pausing for a moment as she felt the pain flare in her side once more. 

Beatrice sighed. If she moved, she hurt. If she stayed still, she hurt. 

There was no winning. 

She set the laptop on the desk and rested her palm against Camila's back, giving her a gentle shake. 

"Camila?" 

Camila stirred and shot up almost immediately. “I’m awake! I’m awake.”

“You need to get some proper rest, Camila.” Beatrice sighed.

“We all do.” Camila yawned. “But what if Jillian calls?”

“We can take it in turns.” Beatrice said. “Look, you’ve got the email alerts on, haven’t you?”   


Camila nodded. 

“And I assume your phone is on. If she calls, you’ll hear it. You can get some rest and I’ll stay up and keep an eye out, I still have some research of my own to do anyway.”   
  
Camila didn’t even attempt to hide the concern in her eyes. 

“You need to get some rest too, Bea.”   
  
“I slept for a bit at the hospital. I’ll be okay for a few hours.”

Camila stood reluctantly, yawning again as she reached out to give Beatrice’s arm a small squeeze.

“We’re going to find her Bea, don’t lose hope.” She said. “We’ll bring her back.”

Why did it feel like the more she heard her friends say that, the more it felt like an empty promise?

All words, no actions.

It wasn’t their fault, Beatrice knew that. It was all too easy for them to be the targets of her frustrations.

“Get some rest Camila.” Beatrice said quietly. “I’ll wake you if anything comes through.”

For a moment Camila looked like there was more that she wanted to say, but she seemed to second guess herself on the matter and with a quiet sigh, made her way towards the sofa.

Beatrice took the seat at the desk and pressed her hands to her face. 

\--

Lilith was on the hunt for some clean towels when she spotted Mary approaching her.

“How did it go?” Mary asked.

“Well it shouldn’t come as a surprise to you that Beatrice knows we were hiding stuff from her. I told her everything.”   
  
Mary raised both eyebrows. “And?”   
  
“She was… Alarmingly calm.” Lilith made her way down the hallway as Mary trailed behind her, pausing only to open cupboards to observe their contents. “She mostly called me out for keeping significant information to myself and theorised that the reason that Ava was in pain when I saw her was because the divinium was reacting against the halo."

Mary hummed thoughtfully. "That's a good shout to be fair, reckon she's right?" 

"It would make sense. I'm just hoping that Ava has worked that out for herself. If she hasn't and she keeps using the halo-" 

"She'll kill herself." Mary finished. "I hate to say it, but if we don't get any results soon we're going to have to consider following Beatrice's theory and checking out those prisons." 

"I trust Beatrice has already considered as much, I also wouldn't be surprised if she hadn't already narrowed down a list of potential locations and gathered schematics." 

Mary sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "If we're going to do this we're going to need to get some rest." 

"And more weapons." 

"Now that part, leave to me." Mary said. "When I spoke to Mother Superion she said there was another garage around the back with some weapons, I'll go check it out now." 

Lilith was more than willing to storm a prison to save Ava, but the whole thing felt too much like they would be walking into a trap. 

"Go get some rest." Mary said. "I'll go check in on Beatrice and Camila, try and convince them to get some sleep and see what kind of toys we've got to work with." 

"I was hoping to get a shower first." Lilith said. "If only I could find the stupid towels." 

Mary sighed as she stepped around Lilith. "Top shelf of the wardrobe in the bedroom next door to the bathroom." 

It was too much effort now. Now that Mary had mentioned rest, her body felt like lead. She was better off trying to get as much sleep as she could.

\--

Mary hovered in the doorway of the living room for a few moments. 

Camila was curled up on the sofa, a soft blanket draped over her. 

At the desk, Beatrice sat, clicking through pages. The muted blue light of the screen was the only light in the room. 

"What is it?" Beatrice asked, careful to keep her voice low enough as to not disturb Camila. 

"You need to get some rest." 

"I will. I promised Camila I would keep an eye on the computer in case Jillian sends anything through." 

Mary sighed. 

She already knew it was a pointless argument. She'd give her people a couple hours to get them results. 

Then they'd have to follow Beatrice's plan. 

“I’m heading outside, apparently there’s a garage somewhere out back that is a nice little armoury.”   
  
She saw Beatrice nod. “Okay.”   
  
Beatrice hadn’t so much as looked in her direction. Whatever she was working on had her whole focus.  
  


\--

  
  


Lilith knew that she was dreaming.

At least, she was fairly certain that she was.

It had taken a few moments to place her surroundings as ArqTech as her feet carried her down sterile hallways.

Each door she passed was closed, but as she turned a corner, Lilith found an open door at the end of one corridor.

She made her way towards it, beginning to hear a hushed voice as she got closer to the doorway.

The room she entered was entirely different. Windows lined one wall, bathing the room in a warm and gentle glow. A bookcase lined another wall, the comfortable looking sofas and coffee table was such a stark contrast from the hallways that Lilith had to wonder if they were even from the same building.

It was the figure standing on the other side of the sofa inspecting a framed butterfly that held Lilith’s attention however. 

Even with the oversized grey hoody covering their body, Lilith could still see the blood beginning to seep through the material.

She could see the dim glow of the halo and the divinium shard.

“Ava?”   
  
Ava startled, knocking the frame onto the floor as she span around. Her eyes were wide as she met Lilith’s gaze across the room and only grew more confused as they flitted to the empty space on the sofa and back to her.

“Holy shit, Lilith!”    
  
“Am I dreaming?” Lilith asked.

Ava hurried around the sofa and the coffee table to get closer. She was grinning as she shook her head.

“Nope! I mean, kinda?” Ava frowned. “It’s confusing but holy shit how is this even happening?”   
  
Ava looked genuinely thrilled to see her, but Lilith could still see how sickly and pale she looked. 

She definitely hadn’t missed how lethargic her movements had seemed. 

“I assume it’s to do with my abilities.” Lilith replied. “Like how I was able to get to you back at the Vatican.”   
  
Something shifted in Ava as her shoulders dropped. “I’m guessing the divinium is stopping you from doing that now?”   
  
She could feel the same sadness that Ava must be feeling. “I’m afraid so.”   
  
“It’s probably for the best. They’re keeping the shard in me to hide me from something while they tie up loose ends. I don’t want you to walk into a trap.” She gasped suddenly. “Shit, Lilith. Beatrice, is she okay?” 

It brought Lilith a strange level of comfort to see that despite everything that Ava must be going through, Beatrice wasn't far from her mind. 

But Ava's question brought a new dilemma to Lilith. 

How much should she say? 

Would it do any good to tell her about the darkness that Beatrice seemed to be slipping into? 

"She suffered a concussion and a couple fractured ribs in the crash and the attack, but she's… She's very focused on trying to find you. We all are." Lilith replied. 

Ava's brows furrowed. "You're not telling me everything." 

She'd already lied to Beatrice once, she couldn't do the same to Ava. 

"Ava, I don't know how much time we're going to have. I need you to tell me as much as you can. Where are you? What do you know?" 

Ava looked as though she was about to argue, but after a tense moment she let out a long sigh and dropped onto the sofa. 

"Definitely a prison. I think I'm still in Spain. As for what I know? Not a lot." Ava pushed a hand through her hair. "Vincent and Adriel are both here but they're not giving me anything to work with. All I know for sure is that the divinium is… It's killing me slowly, the halo is keeping me alive for now. I tried to use it earlier and the pain was unlike anything I felt before."

Lilith moved towards the armchair as Ava spoke and sat down, keeping her gaze focused on Ava. 

"It knocked me out for a while, I saw Shannon, but since I woke up from that it feels like my body isn't moving properly." 

So the halo is losing power then. 

"All I've gotten from Vincent is that they're keeping me alive to tie up loose ends but he won't give me any hints about what those ends are." 

"So if we can stop them from that then we'll buy you more time?" 

"That's my guess, yeah." 

Lilith nodded. "We're trying to track down the kidnappers, they seem like our best chance at figuring out what the plan is and a way to get to you." 

"I trust you." Ava said softly. "But please, be careful? I can't lose you guys trying to save me." 

For someone who never wanted this responsibility, Ava was certainly taking on the sacrificial leader role. 

The last thing Lilith needed right now was for Ava to develop a hero complex. 

"There was another thing…" Ava met Lilith's gaze. "When I first got here, Adriel told me that I wasn't the only one who has taken something from him." 

Now that had Lilith confused. 

"What?" 

"That's all I know." Ava replied. "Now please, what aren't you telling me about Bea?" 

\--

The key was exactly where Mother Superion had said it would be and as Mary lifted the garage door she was met with a glorious sight. 

Two of the walls were lined with weapons with the third solely reserved for shelves of ammunition. 

Definitely enough for a small army. 

But what Mary was really impressed with, was the car that took up most of the garage. 

It was nothing special, despite how much Mary wished she could have been greeted with the likes of a Lamborghini or something with an excessive amount of horsepower, she couldn't complain at the dated Land Rover. 

She knew it would pack a punch and it was definitely going to be handy to have as a backup. 

If it worked that is.

Mary approached the drivers side and pulled on the door, smiling when she found it unlocked. 

She checked the glove box first and when that drew up nothing she pulled down the sun visor, her smile turning to a grin as the key dropped into her lap. 

When she put it in the ignition, she was met with the painful sounds of the engine attempting to turn over. 

She couldn't win them all. 

It probably just needed the battery boosting. 

Mary got out of the car and looked around the garage, certain that there'd be something there that she could use. 

She figured she may as well try to get it running again, who knows when they might need it. 

\--

Beatrice stood before the board, looking at each photo of the men responsible for kidnapping Ava. 

In her hand contained a single slip of paper, the address for a prison scrawled onto it. 

She wasn't willing to wait any longer. 

It was her fault that this happened in the first place. She should have protected Ava, so it was down to her to fix this.

Camila was fast asleep on the sofa, Lilith was asleep somewhere upstairs and Mary had disappeared outside a good fifteen minutes ago. 

She knew that doing this alone was a gamble, either she'd be killed before she could get anywhere near Ava, or she'd have the element of surprise and slip in and out undetected. 

There was a chime from the computer that pulled Beatrice from her thoughts, she crossed the room quickly and pulled up the emails. 

The sender was a throwaway account and Beatrice knew immediately what contents the email contained. 

Maybe she had to rethink her plan slightly. 

Wait. 

Camila had said that Jillian would… 

Beatrice turned towards the sofa and saw the screen of Camila's phone light up. She threw herself across the room till grab it, sliding her thumb across the screen to answer it before the ringtone had a chance to begin. 

"Jillian." 

Jillian was silent on the other line for a few seconds and it gave Beatrice the chance to make her way back to the computer and finally open up the email attachments. 

_ "Beatrice? Where's Camila?"  _

"She's resting." Beatrice replied as she scrolled through the list. "Your email has come through." 

_ "I hope it helps."  _

Considering whoever Jillian had gotten to do this had included last known addresses and frequented locations, Beatrice was certain she'd be okay. 

She quickly forwarded the email to her phone. 

"It will. Thank you." 

_ "And you won't forget our deal?"  _

The deal that included letting her send Ava into hell? 

How could she forget. 

Beatrice hung up without replying and set Camila's phone down as she felt her own vibrate in her pocket. 

She turned to face the board once more as she confirmed the email had come through to her phone. 

A slight change of plans, but it wasn't anything she couldn't handle alone. 

If she could get just one of them to confirm Ava's location, maybe an idea of the layout she'd be covered. 

If she got to make them pay for taking her in the first place, well, that was a bonus. 

God, please let her friends forgive her. 

\--

“Ava, what do you mean somebody else took something from him?”   
  
Ava threw her hands up as she got to her feet. “I don’t know! What aren’t you telling me about Bea?”

She had seen the shift in Lilith’s expression when she had asked the first time and now it just felt like Lilith was dodging her questions. 

Lilith had said that she was okay, so why didn’t Ava believe her?   
  
Ava felt so lost and confused.

She didn’t understand why Shannon hadn’t been there when she had fallen asleep. Had it been because of Lilith?   
  
Which brought about the question of how the fuck was Lilith here?

She also didn’t understand why her mind had brought her to this room, of all places.

Was it because she had been thinking about Beatrice?

There were so many more questions but her mind had a single focus.

Beatrice.   
  
“Is Beatrice okay?” Ava demanded, her voice coming it much harsher than she had meant for it to.

Lilith rose from her seat slowly and tilted her head down to meet Ava’s gaze.

“She’s…” Lilith sighed. “She’s acting unlike herself.”   
  
“What does that mean?”

“It means she isn’t acting logically. She’s angry and scared and I’ve never seen her openly be that way before. She hasn’t stopped to rest, her only focus is finding you and i’m not sure what lengths she’s going to go to in order to do that.”   
  
No. 

No, Beatrice wasn’t like that. 

Beatrice was focused and logical, she wouldn’t do anything reckless.

Would she?

“She’s pushing us away. I think she feels responsible for…”   
  
“For me getting kidnapped.” Ava finished quietly.

The silence hung heavily between them as the look on Lilith’s face told Ava everything she needed to hear.

Fuck.

Beatrice.

The ache she could feel in her heart had nothing to do with the divinium in her back.

“This isn’t her fault.” Ava said quietly. “Please tell her I said that? Don’t let her carry that weight.”   
  
Something in Lilith’s expression shifted, a curiosity taking hold as she regarded Ava carefully.

Ava wondered what Lilith had seen.

“I will.”   
  
She didn’t want any of them to get hurt trying to save her, but the thought of Beatrice beating herself up? The thought of Beatrice hurt or getting hurt?   
  
It made her feel sick.

“Tell her I miss her.”   
  
Lilith nodded.

“And please, keep her safe.”   
  
“I will.” Lilith replied. “I promise. But I need you to promise something in return.”   
  
“What?”   
  
“Don’t let those bastards win. Stay alive, we  _ will  _ get to you, Ava.”   
_  
_ Even now, Ava could hear Beatrice’s words clear as day. 

_ “Trust in your team.” _

She had to try.

“Okay. I promise.”   
  
There was a sudden bang at the door that had them both turn to look, Ava frowned as the door remained untouched but as she looked back at Lilith, her heart dropped as she found the girl nowhere to be seen.

She was alone again.

\--

Lilith shot upright as the door slammed open, light filling the room.

Silhouetted in the doorway, she could just about make out Camila’s form.

The panicked expression only became clear when Camila flicked the light on.

"Bea's gone."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me, chanting: ROGUE BEA, ROGUE BEA, ROGUE BEA (i've been waiting to get to this point, god I'M EXCITED)
> 
> I know it's all been so dialogue heavy up until this point but next chapter? ACTION.
> 
> as always, you can find me [here](https://yashastrongarms.tumblr.com/)  
> I'm also on [twitter](https://twitter.com/RogueThirteen94) now! pls help me figure out that shit 
> 
> Also pls, if u have theories lemme know i wanna see what people are thinking 👀👀


	5. I'll follow you into the dark

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI I AM BACK I'M SORRY  
> Pure focus on this fic for a bit I promise 
> 
> Chapter title from "I will follow you into the dark" By Death Cab for Cutie

"What do you mean she's gone?" 

Lilith was already throwing the covers off of herself and getting up from the bed. 

Camila looked borderline frantic. 

"She told me to get some rest and she'd keep an eye out for an email or call from Jillian, but when I woke up my phone had been moved and she was nowhere in sight."

Lilith still didn't feel entirely present in the moment, too many of her thoughts were still clouded by the dream she had experienced, of having a shared  _ something  _ with Ava. 

She couldn't even begin to process it, and now they had an entirely new crisis to deal with that forced her to push it all aside, at least for a few minutes until they figured out what was happening. 

Lilith followed Camila out of the room and down the stairs as Camila continued to explain what had happened. 

"The car is gone and I thought maybe Mary might have left for some reason but she would have told us and when I was searching the house I saw the lights from a building out back-" 

"That's Mary." Lilith interrupted. "Mother Superion said there was some stuff out there that could help us." 

They walked into the living room and Lilith glanced around for any kind of clue, drawing a blank. 

"When I went to sleep, my phone was on the coffee table. When I woke up it was on the desk." Camila pulled said phone out of her pocket and unlocked it. "There was a three minute call from Jillian's phone thirty minutes ago." 

They both turned towards the doorway as they heard the back door open and close, a few seconds passed before Mary appeared in the doorway, doing a double take upon seeing them. 

The way her expression shifted into something more serious immediately told Lilith that Mary had read the nervous energy in the room. 

"What's happened?" She asked. 

"Beatrice is gone." 

"Gone? What do you mean gone?" 

As Camila filled Mary in on everything, Lilith made her way over to the computer and shook the mouse, waking the screen up and bringing up an open email. 

"Do you think she's followed her prison theory?" Mary asked. 

"No." Lilith replied. "Look at this." 

Mary and Camila crowded in close to read the email, all falling silent as they studied its contents. 

"Shit, Jillian pulled through." Mary said quietly. 

"Wait," Camila gently nudged Lilith aside and made a few clicks. "Look, Beatrice forwarded the email to herself." 

That settled it then. 

Beatrice was going after the kidnappers. 

Alone and most definitely armed. 

"Shit." Mary sighed. 

Her phone chimed and both Lilith and Camila watched in silence as she pulled it out to read the message. 

"It's from one of my guys, same info. Jillian's email checks out." 

"So what do we do?" Camila asked. "Do we go after her?" 

They were about to head down another path, one Lilith wasn't sure where it would take them. 

But before they could start this, she knew she had to put the brakes on. 

"Guys, before we go any further, there's something I need to tell you." Lilith said. 

Mary and Camila both looked at her curiously, the worry they both felt was clear on their faces. 

"When I was asleep, something happened." Lilith took a deep breath as she tried to find the words to even begin to explain what she had experienced. "I saw Ava again. But it was different, she saw me too. We were connected. We spoke."

For a long moment, they both just stared at her. 

"What the fuck." Mary said. "What happened?" 

And so Lilith told them. She told them everything. 

\--

Ava woke up coughing. 

She pulled herself upright as she tried to control her breathing, her chest contracted painfully with each hacking breath. 

The last few coughs felt different and she brought a hand up to cover her mouth. 

When she lowered her hand, she saw the blood glisten against her palm. 

Not good. 

She wiped her hand on her jeans. 

It was fine. She was fine. 

She had a link with Lilith. Lilith told her to trust them. 

They were going to come for her. 

She just had to stay alive. 

Lilith was going to protect Beatrice. She was going to make sure that Beatrice knew that none of this was her fault. 

Ava had to stay alive. She had to tell Beatrice herself. 

She needed to see Beatrice, alive and happy and safe. 

Ava tipped her head back against the wall and closed her eyes. 

"Shannon?" She called quietly, the taste of copper heavy on her tongue. "I don't know if you can hear me, but I could do with some reassurance right now." 

Ava supposed she should be glad that she was met with silence. 

Shannon had told her that it was time to worry when she saw her while she was awake. 

\--

"Ava's dying?" 

Camila's voice was small as she asked. 

"Yes." Lilith hated being the one to deliver this news. "We suspected as much from what I had seen before." 

"It's different to know it for sure." Camila said quietly. 

"Ava said someone else took something from Adriel?" Mary frowned. "What?" 

"I think  _ who _ is the more important question. Whoever he's looking for is the only reason Ava is still alive." 

"Could it be Michael?" Camila asked. "He has divinium in his blood." 

"Michael is wherever that portal took him, as far as I'm concerned he's out of play right now." Lilith said. 

"If it's the divinium he wants then that means us, the OCS, the Vatican and any private collector out there." Mary pointed out. "No it has to be more specific. It has to be someone."

"We can't waste our energy on trying to find out who this target is." Lilith sighed. "We have our own to worry about." 

Camila shifted awkwardly from one foot to the other. "What do we do though? We're pretty sure Bea was right and Ava is in an abandoned prison, but do we go after Ava or Bea?" 

"Beatrice would want us to go after Ava." Mary said. 

"And Ava would want us to go after Beatrice." Lilith pointed out. 

"Bea sent herself the locations of the kidnappers, so she's going after them. Probably to try and verify her own information." Camila said. 

Lilith sighed. It felt like they were talking in circles and the exasperation was really wearing them down. 

"We go after Beatrice." Lilith said. "If she's going after these guys alone then what's to stop her from trying to go after Ava? To do that alone would be a deathtrap." 

She made Ava a promise. 

She had to do what she could to keep it. 

“I still don’t understand why Bea would do this.” Camila sighed. “Why would she go alone?”   
  
Lilith thought back to her conversation with Ava, the sheer desperation on her face as she pleaded with Lilith to know what was going on with Beatrice.

Ava and Beatrice’s reactions to knowing the other wasn’t okay couldn’t have been more different, and yet both evoked a similar feeling.

She didn't know what that meant, exactly, but Lilith knew one thing for certain. 

“Because she isn’t following her brain.” Lilith replied. “She’s following her heart.”

Mary’s phone chimed again and she gave it a cursory read before sliding it into her pocket.

“And that was my other contact. Same info. Cam, find out which of the locations is the closest, chances are that will be our best bet. It’s time to gear up.”   
  
“Small problem, Beatrice took the car.” Lilith pointed out.

Mary reached into her pocket and pulled out an unfamiliar set of keys. “About that…”

\--

As the minutes ticked on, Beatrice kept her gaze focused on the front of the bar from where she had parked across the street.    
  
Every now and again drunk people stumbled out, sometimes they’d step outside to smoke. But there had been no sign of her target just yet.

She’d tried his apartment first, but upon finding that empty, Beatrice had consulted the email once more.

Julien Heard, twenty four. He had racked up quite the debt from gambling and rumour had it that this bar had the best underground gambling ring in town.

He was one of the only kidnappers that she actually recognised.    
  
He had been the one to pistol whip her. 

He was here. 

She just had to wait for him to leave, get him alone and find out where he took Ava.    
  
If he fought, she’d deal with it. 

Beatrice reached for the handgun resting on the passenger seat and checked the magazine before flicking off the safety. 

She briefly regretted not bringing a hoodie with her, or anything really to obscure her face but she quickly pushed those thoughts aside.

She wanted him to see her face.

She wanted him to know that he had made a mistake by taking Ava from them. 

From her. 

A figure stepped out of the bar and it only took a brief glance for Beatrice to know it was him.

The confidence and ease in his stride sent another spark of anger down her spine. 

It was time.

As her hand found the handle of the door, Beatrice spotted movement to her right and she froze as she saw two men step from the shadows and cross the street.

Alarm bells echoed through her mind as she watched them fall into step behind Julien. 

These men were not allies.

No.

Julien turned down an alley.

No, no, no. 

Not when she was so close. 

Beatrice threw the door open and hurried out, there was nobody else on the street so she didn’t bother to tuck her gun away. She didn’t spare the bar a glance as she headed towards the alley.

She heard arguing.

_ “Padre sends his thanks.” _

_ “No!” _   
  
Two gunshots in rapid succession, the flash briefly lit up the mouth of the alley as Beatrice rushed forward. 

One of the two men were slumped against the wall, clutching his stomach as red quickly spread through his shirt.    
  
Julien was on the floor, crawling desperately for a gun only to be stopped by the other stranger stepping on his wrist, raising his own gun casually.

“Please,” He gasped. “Please, we had a deal-”   
  
His words were lost under another gunshot and silence fell amongst the alley, if only for a moment.

“It’s nothing personal.” He lifted his gaze as he realised he wasn’t alone. “Oh?”   
  
Beatrice raised her gun. “I needed him.”

Who was this guy?   
  
“Did he owe you money?” He asked before shaking his head. “No, you don’t look like the sort. You’re one of them, aren’t you?”   


Beatrice said nothing. 

"You are." He grinned. "Where are your friends?" 

"Where is Ava?" 

His grin faded. 

Beatrice saw his fingers twitch around the gun.

\--

“So this guy is one of the kidnappers.” Mary stared at the prone body, careful not to step in the pool of blood. “The question is, who the fuck is that guy?”    
  
They all looked at the second body slumped against the wall, head tipped forward.

“He definitely is not one of the kidnappers.” Lilith said.

Mary glanced down at the kidnapper and the gun just centimetres from his hand when she noticed a mark on his wrist. 

"There's a casing here." Lilith called from near the other body. 

"I got three here." Mary said. She crouched beside the corpse and inspected his hand closer. "And what looks like a shoe print." 

Camila was walking the length of the alley, gaze fixed on the ground as she looked for further clues. 

As Mary got to her feet, she turned to face Lilith and watched as she checked the magazine of the gun from her body. 

"Still full, he never fired." Lilith tucked it into the back of her jeans and stepped a few paces to the side. "There was another shooter." 

"Beatrice?" Mary asked. 

Lilith shook her head. "Can't be certain, but I don't think she would have been so close to this shooter." 

"So there was another guy here." Mary raised her hand to mimic a gun and aimed roughly where she thought the other dead man could have been standing. "Our kidnapper fires. Pow, he goes down."

Lilith took a few steps to the side of her body and mimicked Mary. "Second shooter fires, kidnapper goes down." 

She walked towards Mary and looked down to their kidnapper. 

"He didn't die." Mary said. "Not right away. Look, he was trying to reach for the gun."

Lilith hummed and observed the scene silently. 

"Second shooter steps on his hand to stop him." She pointed her fingers at the bloodied mess of his head and mimicked firing. "Kill shot." 

Mary could almost visualise it, but where did Beatrice come into play? 

Was she even here? 

"But there's still the matter of this third case." Lilith nudged it with her toe. 

"Uh guys?" Camila called. "I got another one over here and… Something else." 

Lilith shot a quick look at Mary and they both hurried to the end of the alley to meet Camila. 

Camila was crouched down, flashlight from her phone on and pointed to the ground. 

"Shell." Camila pointed to a flash of metal that had almost rolled under the dumpster. But it was the next thing she pointed at that head them all concerned. "Blood." 

Only a few drops, but it was enough. 

"Bea?" Camila asked. 

"Must have been." Mary nodded. 

Lilith looked at her thoughtfully. "What are you thinking?" 

"She shows up and interrupts them, maybe those two are already down. Beatrice fires, second shooter fires but he hits her…" 

"I'm going to check for blood splatter. Maybe she hit him too." Lilith said, already making her way back up the alley. 

"Check the bodies for phones too." Mary called. 

"Bea got shot?" Camila asked quietly. 

"Maybe." Mary sighed. "It doesn't look good." 

She took a couple of steps out of the alley and onto the street, eyes focused on the pavement until she finally saw more specks of red. 

That maybe was quickly turning into a yes. 

"We got more blood here." Mary called, she waited for Camila and Lilith to reach her before she continued. "Come on." 

"No more blood over there. Our shooter didn't have a phone and this is all that's left of the kidnappers." Lilith said as she held out the smashed remains of an iPhone, a single bullet hole right through the screen. 

"I'll see what I can do when we get back." Camila took it from her. 

They followed the drops of blood across the street, coming to a stop almost directly opposite the bar. 

"There's a lot more here." Lilith pointed out. "If it was Beatrice then she was standing still for this much to gather." 

They still had to make sure though. 

Mary looked across to the bar. 

"Come on." 

"Now isn't the time for drinking, Mary." Lilith sighed. 

"Funny." Mary pointed above the door. "Camera." 

There was also a very nice looking motorcycle parked out front. 

\--

The pounding music of the bar had Lilith and Camila barely suppressing a frown as they caught each other's gaze. 

They let Mary take the lead as she made her way to the bar, having zero qualms about nudging people out of the way. 

Over the music, Lilith couldn’t make out what Mary said, but she did see the wide eyed fear of the bartender as he hurried off.

A few moments passed and another man showed up, he was older and carried himself in a way that had Lilith certain that he was the owner.

More words were exchanged and Lilith saw money change hands as he shot an uncertain look over Mary’s shoulder at her and Camila.

The moment felt tense as he regarded each of them before relenting with a nod, gesturing for him to follow.

They were led into his office and Lilith and Camila opted to linger by the door as he showed Mary to the TV's hanging near his desk. He quietly talked her through how to scroll through the footage and gave a quick demonstration. 

When he was done, Mary looked at him expectantly. 

"Yeah, we're gonna need the room." 

For a moment he looked extremely put out and seemed as though he was about to protest, only to think better of it as he looked at them all again. 

He didn't make eye contact as he left the room. 

"Okay," Mary clicked a few times as Lilith and Camila drew closer. "Let's see what we find." 

For a few minutes it was just a blur of people coming in and out of the bar, people smoking and on one occasion a small fight seemed to break out. 

Their eyes were glued to the screen, waiting for any sign of their friend. 

Patience was a virtue though and soon enough, an all too familiar car parked up across the street. The quality of the camera wasn't good enough for them to see inside the car, but they didn't have to. They all knew it was Beatrice. 

"That confirms it then." Lilith said. 

Mary hummed in agreement but nothing more was said. 

Together they all watched as the kidnapper stepped out of the bar and turned left, walking out of view. They watched as two men crossed the street, clearly following him.

"Two shooters." Camila sighed. "Who are they?" 

"Now that's the question." Mary replied. 

When they saw Beatrice step out of the car, it felt as though they all collectively held their breaths. 

Beatrice hadn't even bothered to try and hide the gun in her hand as she followed them. 

None of them said anything as Mary fast forwarded the footage, only slowing it to regular speed when Beatrice returned to view several minutes later. 

Lilith had to squint to try and make out the details, but only one thing really stood out to her. 

Beatrice was clutching her right arm, just above the elbow. 

Their suspicions had been right. 

"She got shot." Camila whispered. 

It sounded like her heart was breaking at the sight of their friend. 

"Shit. Bea…" Mary sighed. 

"How long ago was it?" Lilith asked. 

Mary squinted at the timestamp and lifted her head to look at the tacky neon blue clock that hung on the wall. 

"Forty minutes ago." 

"She mustn't have long left before we got here then." Lilith said. 

Mary sped up the footage again and surely enough, not more than ten minutes later, they pulled up outside the bar. 

"What do we do?" Camila asked. 

"Now we know there's at least one other person hunting down the kidnappers." Mary said. 

"But who? Why?" 

"They have to be working for Vincent. He's tying up loose ends, likely because he knows we'll be looking for them, I suppose." Lilith said. 

"Or he just doesn't want everyone linking him to this." Mary supplied. "Probably both, the snake." 

"Beatrice is going to keep going after the kidnappers, the only question is which one." Lilith replied. 

"I really hate to suggest this, but I think we need to split up." Mary stared at the screen for a long moment before turning to face them. "We got five guys being hunted by god knows how many men and Bea. We better our chances if we divide the work." 

"Bea is going to get caught in the crossfire." Camila frowned. 

Not that Beatrice seemed to care about that at the moment. 

"Exactly." Mary clicked a few more buttons and Lilith watched the footage disappear. "There, she was never here." 

"Okay, so how do we do this?" Lilith asked. 

"You and Cam take the car, both of you keep trying to call her and I'll do the same. We have to see if we can get through to her."

"What about you?" 

"I'll find another ride. Just keep me in the loop okay? I don't think we have much time." 

Lilith thought back to Ava and felt another brief stab of guilt. 

So much for her promise. 

\--

Ava was leaning her side against the wall when she heard two sets of heavy footsteps approaching and craned her head to try and pick up their conversation. 

"Did you hear about Andre?" 

"Nah, what happened?" 

"So he's part of the clean up group Padre sent out to deal with the others." 

"I know that much dipshit. Get to the point." 

"He's dead." 

Ava turned her head towards the bars, they hadn't entered yet but their voices carried well enough from the doorway. 

"Oh shit, how do you know?" 

"Lukas called Padre, it was one of the guys who brought the kid here that did him in." 

"Shit." 

"Oh it gets better. Some small angry British chick showed up too." 

Ava's heart almost leapt out of her chest. 

Were they talking about Beatrice? 

Lilith isn't small. 

It had to be Beatrice. 

"Aren't two of them British? Isn't that what Padre wanted?" 

"He needs them dead, but it was just that one, still no sign of the others yet." 

Ava pushed herself to her feet, she could feel the halo beginning to burn, the divinium reacting against it. 

"One is better than none. The sooner we clean this all up the sooner we get paid and we go on with our lives. I'm sick of this mystic bullshit." 

The footsteps began again and Ava could barely breathe. 

Did Vincent and Adriel want to kill her friends before they took the halo? 

But why? That didn't make sense. 

"Lukas said that he shot her, you'll be glad to hear then." 

Her heart stopped. 

She saw the flickering light of the halo reflecting against her skin. 

The two men stepped into view and subsequently froze upon seeing her. 

As Ava braced her hand against the wall, she felt a pulse, the subsequent pain almost blinding as she cried out and felt the wall crack beneath her touch. 

Vincent was having the kidnappers killed. 

They wanted her fiends dead. 

Why was Beatrice alone? 

She was hurt?

Lilith had promised. 

Be it rage or fear, perhaps a combination of both filled her chest, demanded to be released, Ava lost all awareness of the consequences of letting it out. 

"What… What the fuck does he want with her?" Ava demanded. 

The fear in the men's eyes was palpable as she met their gazes head on, she felt the wall crack further and the edges of her vision blur with pain. 

If anything happened to Beatrice. She'd kill them. 

\--

The bullet clattered into the sink, specks of red a harsh contrast to the white porcelain. 

Beatrice's hands didn't shake as she threaded the needle or when she looked at the injury in the mirror. 

She never thought she'd find herself standing shirtless in a gas station bathroom patching up a gunshot wound, but then again, how much of this could she have anticipated? 

On the counter, her phone began to vibrate, Mary's name flashed on the screen. 

Beatrice tore her gaze away and brought the needle up, letting out a slow breath as she pierced her skin. 

Pain. 

Pain was what made her a sister warrior. 

She had to remember that. 

But when would the pain end? 

Old wounds had begun to heal when she had opened up to Ava, when she let Ava hold the secret that she had kept locked away for so many years. 

She had been healing. Everything had been brighter. 

But now Ava was gone. Hurt and alone. 

Ava had trusted her. Had trusted in Beatrice's promise. 

Her fingers began to tremble. 

New wounds. 

These wounds won't heal. 

Not if she doesn't save Ava. 

Her phone began to ring again, a brief glance showed her that it was Camila this time. 

They weren't going to stop. 

But Beatrice had to stay focused on her mission. 

It was safe to assume that the other shooters were also sent by Vincent and that he was cleaning up after himself. 

Always sending other people to do his dirty work. It really showed how little value he placed in the lives of other people. 

But with that knowledge brought a new problem. 

How many people had Vincent sent to kill the kidnappers? Beatrice needed to be smart about this, she still had five kidnappers to pursue, it was just a matter of choosing the right one and getting to him first. 

Her grip slipped on the needle and Beatrice let out a quiet hiss as she pulled too tight on her stitches. 

Beatrice closed her eyes. She needed to breathe. 

She needed her hands to stop shaking. 

Everything was so tense. She was so angry. 

Beatrice was angriest at herself. 

It was an amateur mistake to get shot like this. To let one of the hitmen escape. 

Everything was slipping through her fingers. 

Lilith was calling her now. 

Beatrice sighed and checked her work. 

It was messy, it was going to leave a horrible scar and it was definitely still bleeding a bit. 

But it would do. 

She couldn't waste any more time. 

Beatrice checked her phone as the call ended and saw the voicemails light up her screen. 

It would be easier to delete them. Ignore them. 

But despite herself, Beatrice reached over with a bloodied finger, unlocked the screen and hit play. 

_ "Beatrice. It's Mary."  _ Mary's voice filled the small bathroom as Beatrice moved to wash the blood from her hands.  _ "Look, we're not mad at you for leaving, but you don't have to do this alone. I know how it feels… To be full of anger when something happens to someone you care about."  _

Beatrice's hands stilled under the scalding water. 

_ "So just… Come back, okay? Call me."  _

Beatrice grabbed a handful of paper towels and dried her hands as the next message played. 

_ "Hey Bea…"  _ Camila greeted, Beatrice could hear the sound of traffic in the background.  _ "Please call as soon as you can? I'm worried about you. I just want to make sure you're okay." _

Beatrice grabbed her shirt and pulled it over her head, in the privacy of the room she allowed the quiet whimper to leave her lips as the pain from her ribs and arm radiated out. 

_ "Beatrice listen. I know you're hurt. We saw the alley, we know you've been shot."  _ Lilith didn't beat around the bush. Never had, never will.  _ "But I know you. I know you're not going to stop no matter how much we try."  _

Beatrice cleaned up the surfaces as best as she could, removing all traces of blood and by extension, herself. 

_ "But something happened when you left and you need to know. While I was asleep, I connected to Ava."  _

Beatrice froze once more and slowly turned towards the phone. 

What?   
  
How was that even possible?

_ "It was real. She saw me, we talked. Beatrice, listen. She gave me a message for you. She wanted me to tell you that this isn't your fault. To not carry this weight."  _

It sounded like something Ava would say but… 

But what if this was just her friend's last ditch attempt to try and get her to come back. 

_ "She said to tell you that she misses you."  _ Lilith continued.  _ "Ava asked me to keep you safe. I just needed to make sure you knew that."  _

Beatrice struggled to swallow around the lump in her throat as the call ended. 

Ava… 

Ava had made sure to get a message to Beatrice, and that realisation made her heart ache.

She picked the phone up and slipped it into her back pocket and slowly pulled her jacket back on. 

Ava. 

This  was _her_ burden to carry. It was _her_ responsibility to bring Ava back. 

She had to get to one of the kidnappers before he got killed. 

How long would this trail of death go on for? 

More importantly, if she followed it, where would it leave her? 

Beatrice picked up her gun and tucked it into the back of her pants. 

So long as it led her to Ava, Beatrice was all too willing to walk into that darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> same old same old, you can find me [here](https://yashastrongarms.tumblr.com/)  
> Also [twitter!](https://twitter.com/RogueThirteen94)
> 
> Take it easy!


	6. Disconnect and self destruct (one bullet at a time)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiiiiiiii it's me  
> Have a new chapter (: 
> 
> Chapter title from 'Outsider' By A Perfect Circle

The halo was still flaring erratically by the time Vincent arrived. 

Ava knew it was him approaching long before she even looked up, the single, steady footsteps had been a big giveaway. 

His men had fled pretty quickly when she had started to lose control. 

"You're being childish." 

Seriously? 

"Fuck you." 

She didn't dare take her hand off of the wall, she could feel it crumbling beneath her touch but Ava wasn't certain her legs would be able to support her otherwise. 

She forced herself to lift her head, to meet his gaze through the bars. 

The betrayal still stung. 

"I trusted you, you know." Ava said. "We all did." 

He moved closer to the bars, reaching up to lean his arms against the bars lazily. 

"I know. That was the plan." 

She felt another shock of pain and snapped her eyes shut as she forced her legs to stay steady. 

"You're going to kill yourself." Vincent said. 

"That'd be unfortunate for you, wouldn't it?" Ava asked. 

God, all she could taste was blood. 

"It would cause problems, but I'm sure we would manage." 

He was bluffing. 

Wasn't he? 

"If that were the case…" Ava drew a deep breath. "If that were the case then I'd already be dead." 

Vincent's smile was cruel. "It's convenience. All of this is by design, the only reason they left that halo in you was because of me. They would have taken it from you had I not stopped them."

"Stop." 

"They would have cast your body aside and given the halo to Lilith as intended. If not her, then it would have gone to Beatrice." 

_ Beatrice.  _

He was wrong. 

He had to be wrong. 

Right? 

Would they have taken the halo from her? 

None of them had really liked her when she came to them. 

Vincent, Mary and Beatrice had. 

Camila had been nice too. 

Vincent had lied though. 

Mary was too straightforward to not speak her thoughts. 

Beatrice would never lie to her. 

Beatrice. 

Beatrice was hurt, somewhere.

"You don't get to talk about h - them." Ava grit her teeth. 

"Do you think they really care about you, Ava?" Vincent asked. 

He couldn't be trying to calm her down. Because if he was, he was doing a shit job of it. 

He was trying to break her. 

And what really bothered her was how much it was working. 

"They only ever cared about the halo."

_ "You would still have us, and we will never leave you."  _

Vincent was a liar. 

Beatrice wasn't.

Ava was moving before she was aware of it, flying towards the bars. She felt the halo splutter. 

Just phase through.

That's all she had to do. 

Ava reached for his arm through the bars, fingers curling around the sleeve of his shirt. 

Her legs gave out as she slammed into the bars, collapsing to her knees heavily as Vincent leapt back. 

As Ava tipped her head forward to rest against the bars and coughed, she was met with the sight of two things. 

Blood. 

And in her hand, the black fabric of Vincent's shirt. 

Ava looked up and saw Vincent stood safely a few feet away, part of his sleeve torn and exposing an array of tattoos and-

Blue? 

Divinium. 

"What the fuck?"

Vincent looked from his arm to Ava. 

"What the fuck?" Ava said again, harsher this time. "What is going on?" 

Vincent remained silent. 

Michael's face flashed through her mind. 

"Are you sick?" 

He scoffed. "No." 

"Then why-" Ava closed her eyes to fight back a wave of nausea. "Why?" 

"It makes me whole." Vincent replied. "So that I may better serve." 

Never a straight fucking answer. 

Ava hated him. 

"Right." Ava spat a mouthful of blood onto the floor. "Because you're Adriel's little bitch boy, aren't you?" 

That got a little twitch in his jaw for her effort. 

If he wasn't going to give her a single straight answer, then Ava was going to keep up with the tried and tested method of being a nuisance. 

"Because that's all you do, isn't it?" Ava asked she threw the remnants of his sleeve towards him and curled her hands around the bars. "Hide in the shadows, following his bidding, getting others to do your dirty work…"

She felt pathetic. She knew that she looked weak as she willed her legs to move, to try and stand again. 

"You couldn't even kidnap me yourself. You had to get your little lackies to bring me here." 

Vincent tilted his head to the side and smiled again. "And now one of those 'little lackies' has injured the golden girl of the OCS. But judging from your little temper tantrum, you already know that."

Ava slid to the floor again. 

"It's funny isn't it?" Vincent began, looking at her as though she were a child. "From the moment you got here, we hadn't heard so much as a whisper from your sisters. It was like they simply… Disappeared. Of course, they were hiding." 

He crouched down to Ava's level and reached through the bars as though to touch her, Ava flinched away from his grasp and glared back at him. 

"It truly seemed as though they'd abandoned you. Left you all alone." He rose to his feet. "And now it seems Beatrice has appeared. She was always a good student. So focused. You can imagine my surprise at finding out she got injured." 

Ava managed to get a solid enough hold on the bars to drag herself to her feet.

"What did you do to her to make her fall so far?" Vincent asked. 

He may be an untrustworthy snake of a man, but his words struck true between Ava's ribs. 

Whatever Beatrice was doing, wherever she was, she was hurt. 

Again. 

And it was all Ava's fault. 

"She's going to die because of you. They all are." 

Ava snarled. "Don't you fucking touch her." 

Her knees bucked once more under the pulse of the halo. 

She wasn't sure how much more pain she could take. 

**** “As always you’re impulsive. You lack control You’re nothing more than a flame desperately clinging to life in a storm."  **  
** **  
** Ava forced herself to meet his gaze and did her best to channel Lilith, to be as intimidating as possible before she found her voice to reply. 

“Careful Vincent. Even the smallest of flames can decimate a forest. You know better than to underestimate me.”

Lilith would be proud.  **  
** **  
** Vincent scoffed and turned away. 

“If all goes to plan, you’ll be dead by morning.”

As Ava watched him leave, she felt powerless. 

She might not be able to stop this. 

But Ava had to believe that her family could. 

Ava closed her eyes and repeated Beatrice's words to herself, even as she felt her body sliding to the ground and everything grow fuzzy around her. 

"Trust in your team." 

Her voice cracked

She couldn't break. 

\--

"It's a no on our guy, Mary." Camila sighed into the phone as they crossed the street. 

Lilith kept her attention on their surroundings as they made their way back to the car. 

This kill had been much cleaner, single gunshot wound to the head. 

Definitely a staged suicide. 

The kidnappers were dropping faster than they could get to them. 

Camila hummed to whatever Mary was saying as they reached the car, Lilith unlocked it and slipped behind the drivers seat and waited for Camila to get in and fasten her seat belt.

"How far out are you from your guys?" Camila asked. "Okay, want us to head to the last one?" 

She flashed a quick look to Lilith and nodded. 

Lilith started the engine. 

"Call me when you get there. Stay safe." Camila hung up. 

"Where is she?" Lilith asked. 

"She's getting gas, the bike she took was running on fumes but she's only a couple miles from where the twins live." Camila sighed. "We need to head to the last guys place." 

"We're running out of time." Lilith agreed. "Punch in the address?" 

"Already on it." Camila replied. "I was hoping Bea would be here." 

Lilith began to drive, She glanced at the GPS. 

She was so tired. 

"Do you think we'll make it in time?" Camila asked. 

Lilith didn't know if Camila was referring to saving one of the men, or… Everything. 

It was probably everything. 

"We have to try." Lilith replied. "We just have to-" 

The burst of white came out of nowhere. 

Ava standing in her cell, the light of the halo rippled out. 

There was so much fear in her eyes. 

So much anger. 

The walls seemed to be crumbling around her hand.

She was yelling. Screaming? 

Lilith was only distantly aware of an arm pressing hard against her chest. 

Ava was looking at someone. 

There was so much pain. 

Ava threw herself towards the bars and Lilith's vision widened. 

Vincent. 

As Ava collapsed to the floor. 

Everything faded. 

"Lilith!" 

Her hands were still on the steering wheel. 

So was one of Camila's. 

Her foot was still on the pedal. 

"Lilith! Are you with me?" Camila's voice was steady but Lilith picked up on the hint of panic. "I need you to stop!" 

They were driving so fast and as Lilith's vision finally cleared she finally realised just how fast they were going. 

She took her foot off of the gas and eased on the breaks, slowing them and pulling over. 

For a moment they just sat in silence. Camila slowly took her hand off of the steering wheel, though the arm across her chest remained as Lilith regained control over her breathing. 

"You should drive." Lilith said. 

"I will. But not until you're steady." 

"I'm fine." 

"I can feel your heartbeat, Lilith." Camila replied. "What happened? Did you see Ava?" 

"I did." Lilith opened the window to let some of the cool night air in. "Vincent was there. Ava looked so scared and angry." 

"How did she look?" 

"...Bad." Lilith sighed. "She looked like she was in a lot of pain and whatever Vincent was saying to her… It really affected her."

What had made Ava so angry? 

Was it to do with Beatrice? 

Lilith paused. 

Why had Beatrice been her first thought when it came to Ava's distress? 

Camila was slow to remove her arm and used her hand to rub over her face. 

She had promised Ava that she would protect Beatrice. 

Some job she was doing. 

All Lilith felt was guilt. 

"What if we can't save either of them?" Lilith asked. "Beatrice is shot and Ava is… Ava is losing it." 

She glanced at Camila, and while there was so much fear in her eyes, so much concern. 

But there was still that smile, that small but reassuring smile. 

"We can't lose faith now, Lilith." Camila said quietly. "We'll bring them both back, we'll get Beatrice and then we'll go get Ava and get them back together." 

Get them back together? 

There was something in Camila's tone that Lilith couldn't put her finger on. 

"Get them back together?" She asked. 

"They care about each other so much." Camila turned her head to look out of the window. "That much was clear, even before all of this. Everything is just coming to head at the worst possible time." 

It felt like she was somewhere else almost, but it was clear that Camila had been thinking about the pair a lot. 

And considering Beatrice was currently running rogue while Ava slowly killed herself, saying it was the worst possible time was certainly an understatement. 

But Lilith had to wonder, what had Camila seen between Beatrice and Ava before all of this? 

"What are you suggesting?" 

"Nothing!" Camila was quick to answer as she whipped her gaze back to Lilith, her brows furrowed. "I don't know. I just… Look how close they'd gotten to each other, they just seemed to click so suddenly even though on the surface they seem so different. You must have seen it too?" 

And she had, arguably more in the brief time the pair had been separated. 

Lilith didn't want to make assumptions as to what that meant. 

"I have." Lilith agreed softly. "But none of it will mean anything if we don't save them." 

Camila's hand reached out to cover her own and the amount of comfort the simple gesture brought surprised Lilith in ways she couldn't begin to explain. 

"Come on, I'll drive." Camila said. 

Lilith nodded and unclipped her seat belt. 

They were going to find Beatrice. 

Lilith wasn't going to be the one to tell Ava that they had lost her. ****

\--

It was easy to blend into the crowd. 

The sirens were rapidly approaching from all directions. 

Not that there was anything they could do. 

The car still sat in the middle of the road, debris scattered all over the place. 

The flames were still burning intensely. 

As far as Mary was concerned, there was no point in trying to get a closer look at the passengers. 

She already knew who they were. 

Jackson and Scott Hunter, brothers. 

And two more kidnappers they'd failed to reach in time. 

Mary lowered her phone as she got Beatrice's voicemail once more. 

They still had one more guy left to try and find, Lilith and Camila were already on their way but considering how far away they were Mary knew that she'd get there first. 

As she turned around to make her way back to her bike, Mary froze as she saw the figure standing across the street, far enough away to see the scene before them but close enough that Mary could make out the unmistakable features of her friend.

Even from where she was standing, it was the intensity of her eyes that Mary could see clearest. 

Beatrice. 

Mary took a step forward to cross the street. 

"Bea-" 

The rush of sirens hit her, the fire engine and police car blocked her crossing and obscured her view. 

In the moment it took for the vehicles to pass, Beatrice had left. 

Fuck. 

_ Fuck.  _

Had she done this? 

Or had she been like Mary, and arrived too late? 

Once again, Beatrice had slipped through their grasps. 

But at least there was only one more place for her to go, and Mary wasn't about to let her get away again. 

She had to call the others and let them know. 

But before she did that, Mary cast her eyes to the stars. 

"Shan? I don't know if you can hear me, but keep Ava safe, okay? Keep her safe, and if you can, tell her that I'm going to bring Beatrice back home." 

\--

Ava felt like she was floating between two spaces. 

One was pain, the other was the absence of. 

She knew logically that she was slipping in and out of consciousness and without anything to ground her, nothing to focus on, all Ava could do was exist in between. 

Lost and drifting. That was a feeling Ava was more than familiar with. 

"This is bullshit man." 

Ava clung to the words, forced herself to hold on. 

"This is why Padre has contingency plans, I'm just glad to be getting out of this shit hole." 

Ah. Her lowkey roommates. 

Wait, getting out? 

Were they moving? 

Ava tried to ground herself with another deep breath, though she couldn't quite bring herself to move. 

"Silver lining man, running water. That alone makes it worth it." 

They wouldn't move for good reason. Something must have happened. 

"Okay, let's make this fast. I'll open the cell, you put the cuffs on her." 

"Why? She's barely conscious." 

"And you've seen the shit she can do, I'm not talking chances here." 

The felt the vibration of the cell door be pushed open. 

"Exactly. The cuffs aren't going to do shit." There was a pause as she heard footsteps and two hands close around one of her arms. "Just grab her other arm, will you?" 

Ava slipped again as she felt herself being moved and she opened her eyes to an empty chamber of a space, all white and clinical. 

It was like her brain couldn't even be bothered to find somewhere for her to rest. 

But at least she wasn't alone. 

Ava smiled. "Shannon."

"Ava." 

Ava sighed. "They're moving me." 

"Yeah." 

"That means something has gone wrong, with their plan, doesn't it?" 

"That's my best guess." 

"Vincent was bluffing." Ava said, unable to keep some of the pride out of her voice at being right. "He said I'd be dead by morning, but if that was the case then what's the point in moving me?" 

Did it make things more confusing? Absolutely. 

But it also meant that whatever they had intended to do hadn't gone to plan. 

They weren't going to kill her yet. 

Ava knew that the others had done something to throw a wrench in the works and she couldn't be prouder of them for that. 

This was a brief but genuine moment of relief, and Ava had every intention of basking in it. 

"I'm guessing you don't know where we're going." 

"I only know what you do." Shannon replied. 

She crossed the space and took a seat beside her. 

Ava closed her eyes. "Oh. This is nice. There's no pain, I forgot how good this felt." 

"Hey, no." Shannon grabbed her ankle and shook it hard. "I know how this feels but you can't let yourself get into this headspace Ava. You can't give up." 

"Don't worry, I'm not giving up. Not yet, I'm just enjoying the break." 

Shannon sighed. "I wish I could help you." 

**"** You're helping me by being here." Ava replied. "I don't suppose you know what's happening with the others?" 

As Ava opened her eyes, she saw a brief, wistful smile that faded as soon as Shannon realised Ava was looking at her. 

"Mary asked me to keep you safe." She explained. "She wanted me to tell you that she's going to bring Beatrice back." 

Ava sat up. "Bea's still alive?"

Oh, that relief just burned a little brighter in her chest. 

"She's still alive. She's trying to find you, they all are. Vincent was wrong, you're not alone and they're not giving up on you. Halo or not, they're your family."

"Our family." Ava corrected. "They're our family." 

"In this life or the next." 

Ava still didn't quite understand the gravity of those words. 

When she had said them to Beatrice, she had felt their weight, but she also knew that she had been trying to say so much more. 

She had been trying to say thank you, for everything. For standing by her side and guiding her into the path to who she was now. 

Ava knew she should ask about Vincent, the divinium in his skin. 

But there was something more pressing that Ava wanted to know. 

"Can I ask you something?" 

"Of course." 

"I get why I can see you, the halo links us. The halo links me and Adriel but the divinium is blocking that, somehow." 

Shannon flashed her a curious look. "You still haven't asked your question." 

"Why can you link with Mary? Does she know it's really you?" 

Shannon considered this for a few moments. 

"I think she does, on a level. Or that she wants to believe that it is." Shannon said. "But I think that Mary thinks it's safer to believe that I'm just a dream. It hurts less, that way."

They sat in silence for another few moments as Ava watched Shannon. She could see that longing and sadness. 

Shannon missed Mary so much. 

"As for the why… I think it's because of how close we were." Shannon said softly. "I think that is why, our relationship ran deeper than what I had with the other sisters." 

This time it was Ava's turn to turn contemplative. 

She was undoubtedly closer with Beatrice than all of the others. Beatrice was who she connected to the most, so why was it Lilith who came to her? 

Was that something to do with the halo? 

"It never happened while I was alive though." Shannon continued. "The link between me and Mary only happened when I died." 

Oh.

If she were to die, would that be enough to see Beatrice again?

"Ava." 

"Hm?" 

"What are you thinking about?" 

"I'm trying to think of plans." 

Shannon didn't seem to really believe her, but Ava was thankful that she didn't press her further. 

"Rest now, Ava." Shannon said instead. "You're safe here, in this space. So for now, just rest." **  
**

"In that case, we have some time to kill. Wanna play charades?" 

The look Shannon gave her was one of disbelief, though she quickly recovered and laughed instead. 

It may be a moment of levity, but Ava still couldn't let her thoughts drift from her earlier thoughts. 

If that was what it took to see her again… 

Would she do it?

**  
** **  
** \--

Beatrice took a deep breath and rested her forehead against the steering wheel. 

She counted to ten. 

And let the breath out. 

It didn't help. 

The corners of her vision were blurred. 

She didn't have time for this. 

Push through the pain. 

Beatrice sat up and repeated the action again.

She leaned heavily against the door as she pushed it open. She closed the door and lifted her gaze up to the building she was parked outside of. 

It was a small apartment building, three floors tops. Jillian's contact had really gone the extra mile and pulled the documentation of the lease. 

Beatrice knew that the single light from the third floor was where she needed to be. 

Okay. 

Beatrice checked the gun and took one more deep breath. 

This time she counted to five and the blurring at the edges of her vision cleared slightly. 

Okay. 

She walked around the car and to the front of the building, as she reached up to start pressing buzzers, her gaze drifted to the door. 

The frame was splintered and damaged. 

Beatrice pressed her fingers to it tentatively and the door opened with ease. 

No. 

Her feet carried her into the building and up the stairs, she could feel her pulse pounding in her ears. 

As she reached the first floor, Beatrice could hear yelling above her. 

It only got louder as she reached the second floor, now accompanied by glasses smashing and other such crashing sounds. 

By the time Beatrice reached the third floor, she was leaning heavily on the wall as a weak attempt to conserve some energy. 

And then she heard the gunshot. 

No. 

She wasn't losing this chance too. 

Beatrice forced herself forward until she found splintered door, still half open and threw herself inside. 

It was an open spaced loft. Her gaze fell to the man on the floor, propped up against the island that divided the living room and the kitchen. 

He was bleeding and in the moment Beatrice couldn't spare him more than a passing glance. 

No, he attention was on the man across the room from her. 

Their gazes met at the same time. 

It was the shooter from the bar. 

"Oh. It's you." He said. 

They both raised their guns at each other. 

"You're efficient." Beatrice said. "It's troublesome." 

"High praise, considering what I know of you." 

The cries of the man bleeding out beside them did nothing to sway their focus. 

"Where is Vincent?" Beatrice asked. 

He smiled. "They don't pay me to spill secrets." 

"I'll make you talk." 

She was ready this time. 

Beatrice fired first, already moving herself to the side to dive behind the sofa. 

She heard her bullet impact glass and felt his gunshot tear through the sofa. 

Beatrice lifted her gun over the back of the sofa and fired again.

She scrambled out from behind the sofa and sprinted towards the shooter, closing the space before he had a chance to get another shot off. 

Beatrice raised her gun to his chest only to have him slap it away and raise his own. Beatrice wrapped her hand around his wrist and turned her body to the side as he fired. 

They were caught in a grapple. 

Beatrice span the gun in her hand to hold the barrel and shifted to bring it down on his wrist, watching as his face contorted in pain and the gun fell from his hand. 

As Beatrice moved to backhand him, to slam the gun into his head, he threw a punch that landed directly against her bullet wound, the sudden white hot pain was enough to make the gun slip from Beatrice's hand.

"You're going to have to do better than that." He sneered. 

Beatrice lifted her hands. 

She still had a knife in her boot, and there was no way Beatrice was prepared to let this guy leave. 

Beatrice moved forward, a flurry of blows being traded and blocked. 

If her thoughts weren't so focused on one goal, Beatrice would almost appreciate the level of skill he seemed to have. 

Beatrice lifted her leg and slammed her foot into his knee and used that movement to pull her knife free and bring it down into his shoulder. 

She knew that she shouldn't have enjoyed his cry of pain quite as much as she did. 

"Better enough for you?" Beatrice asked. 

She wrapped her hand around his throat despite the aching pain in her arm and let her momentum carry them forward until his back hit the window, the glass splintered from where her bullet had impacted. 

He laughed and as he wrapped his hand around her arm, he dug his thumb into the wound. 

The pain went down her spine. 

It took everything to keep her grip steady. 

"I was going to come for you next." He said. "Where's your friend?" 

The anger was taking over. She slammed him into the glass again and watched the cracks grow. 

He was taunting her, breaking her. 

"I was about to ask you the same thing." Beatrice said. 

Her voice sounded so cold and hollow it didn't even sound like her. 

"Where is Ava?" Beatrice demanded. 

He looked confused before he laughed again, mockingly. 

"You really are clueless." 

Beatrice slammed him into the window again. 

The glass shattered. 

\--

Mary didn't need to check her phone to confirm if she was at the right spot or not. 

Beatrice's car was more than enough proof that she was in the right place. **  
**

She walked over to the car and frowned. 

The hood was dented, shards of glass scattered across the metal and floor surrounding it. 

She cast her gaze up to the building and found the smashed window. 

Mary made her way up to the third floor and as she reached the open door, she raised her gun ready for whatever she was going to meet on the other side. 

She could hear quiet whimpers. 

Please. 

Please, she couldn't find Beatrice like this. 

She stepped inside and was met with a trashed loft space. 

Bullet holes in the sofa, furniture tipped over. 

A man bleeding out against a counter. 

"Shit." She lowered her gun and crossed the room to kneel beside him. 

His skin was pale and sweaty, hand pressed hard against his thigh as blood flowed freely from it. 

"Are you alone?" Mary asked. 

His eyes were glossy as her looked up at her, but he managed to nod. 

"Was someone else here? Another girl?" 

Another nod. 

"Where is she?" 

"H-how the fuck should I know?" he asked. "She fucking threw that guy out of the window." 

One of the shooters, Mary assumed. 

"The girl that you kidnapped. Where did you take her?" 

He scoffed. "You're one of them, aren't you? Vincent said you would show up." 

"Just tell me where she is." 

"Fuck you." 

Mary lifted his hand to study the damage. The blood was flowing so fast. 

It was bright red. 

Beatrice wouldn't have just left him without good reason. 

Whoever she threw out of the window? That was who she was focused on.

"Fine." Mary said. She shoved his hand aside to reach into his pocket and pulled out his phone before she stood up. 

She grabbed her shotgun and turned away. 

"Where are you going? Help me! I'm going to die!" 

Mary didn't stop walking. 

"The gunshot severed your femoral artery, you died five minutes ago. You're only wasting your breath. I'd make peace with the choices you've made while you still can." 

She pulled out her phone and hit dial on Camila's name as she made her way down the stairs and back into the cool night air. 

It was Lilith who answered. 

_ "Anything?"  _

"Too late for our guy." 

The heavy sigh on the other line said more than words could. 

_ "And Beatrice?"  _

Mary walked back over to the car and took a moment to inspect it closer. 

There was more blood leading away from the car and further up the street, tiny shards of glass reflected under the streetlights. 

"Not with the guy, but I think she's close. I think she interrupted the shooter and I think she's taken him somewhere." Mary said. "How far away are you?" 

_ "Fifteen minutes, tops."  _

In the not so far distance, Mary heard a gunshot. 

She focused on the direction it came from. 

"Good. Hurry." 

She hung up and began to walk. 

\--

His screams echoed off of the throughout the warehouse. His head hit the wall as he threw it back in pain. 

The blood dripped from his kneecap. 

Beatrice closed her eyes for a moment before she tightened her grip on her gun. 

The metal was slick with blood and she was more than familiar with the feelings of blood loss. 

She wasn't sure how much longer she could keep going. 

"All you're doing is wasting our time." Beatrice said. "You're dragging this out when you have no reason to." 

She grabbed his face to make him look at her. 

"Tell me what you know, where did they take Ava." She pressed the gun to his other knee. "It's in your best interest to tell me everything." 

"Or what?" 

"Or I blow out your other kneecap and leave you here to die a slow, painful death." Beatrice replied. 

She had come this far, pushed herself further than she ever had before. 

Beatrice couldn't stop now. 

Not when she was this close. 

This was their chance at finding Ava. 

Beatrice took a deep breath and met the shooter's panicked stare. 

The cockiness had long since faded. 

"I thought you were supposed to be a nun, what kind of nun kills people?" 

Beatrice didn't move the gun from his knee as she kneeled beside him, forcing their gazes level. "The kind who has been tasked with protecting someone, who made a promise, not only to God, but to that person, to keep them safe."

The lines had always been slightly blurred with the OCS, to do whatever it took to protect the world, to protect the halo. 

To protect the halo bearer. 

Her mission was more than just protecting the halo, now it was about protecting Ava. 

Ava never asked for this, for all of this pain and responsibility. 

She just wanted to be free. 

"Now, I know that you were hired to take out the team who kidnapped my friend, I assume Vincent did this to tie up any loose ends and to stop us from being able to find out where she was taken. Am I right so far?" 

He nodded. 

"Okay. Now I want to know where they took her." 

"I don't know." 

"You're lying." 

Beatrice pulled the trigger. 

She closed her eyes as he screamed again. 

"You bitch!" He spat, clutching his other knee. "You fucking bitch." 

Beatrice turned away from him and swapped the gun into her left hand, just for a few moments as she wiped her bloodied hand on her pants and flexed her fingers. 

"Just tell me what you know." 

The warehouse door slid open and Beatrice found herself staring back at Mary. 

She watched Mary's gaze shift to look at the man behind her and back again.

But even then, the relief was evident in her voice. 

"...Beatrice." 

\--

Beatrice held her gaze steadily. 

"Mary." 

She looked like shit. 

Pale and sweaty, not quite as rough as the guy she had just left behind but she was definitely heading in the same direction. 

There was blood dripping from her hand. 

Mary looked at the guy behind her, she recognised him from the security footage. 

His jeans were soaked with blood, the excess beginning to pool around him. 

Jesus Christ, Beatrice. 

"Bea… You need to stop this." 

Beatrice's eyes flashed with a brief look of guilt? Regret? 

It was hard to tell. 

Beatrice turned around quickly and switched the gun back into her right hand. 

"Beatrice." 

"This isn't over. Not yet." She stumbled a little as she crouched down in front of him. "Are you ready to talk now?" 

"I don't know anything." He said through gritted teeth. 

"I'll be the judge of that." 

Mary couldn't think of a time she had seen Beatrice this disconnected, even when she had first joined the OCS, there had still been some softness. 

"Where its Vincent hiding?" Beatrice asked. 

She pressed the gun to his shoulder. 

He hesitated as he shifted against the weapon. "A… A prison. He was staying there but, but one of the guys I know there told me they were moving tonight." 

Moving? 

Fuck. 

Beatrice stood up. "Moving where?" 

"I don't know, shit, I swear." 

"You said you know someone. Who?" 

"Valentine and Jonah!" 

Beatrice held out a hand. "Give me your phone." 

He threw it to her feet, she picked it up and studied it, not moving her gun from where she had pointed it at him. 

Mary didn't dare to move. 

She couldn't be certain that Beatrice wasn't found to kill him. 

"Pass code?" 

"8433."

She watched Beatrice type the code in and nod to herself before she slipped it into her pocket. 

"Even if she is still alive, you'll never find her. You may as well just cut your losses." 

Beatrice pressed the gun to his forehead. 

"Do you believe in God?" She asked. 

"N… No." 

"Interesting. I suppose that means you don't believe in the devil either." 

He shook his head. 

Beatrice leaned closer. "Then I hope that wherever your soul ends up, whoever you stand before judges you swiftly and kinder than I would." 

Holy fucking shit. 

There was very little that could shake Mary. But Beatrice's words? The way in which she said them? 

They chilled her to her core. 

Mary stepped forward. "You need to stop, this is too far." 

"Don't doubt how far I'm willing to go, Mary." Beatrice replied. 

"Believe me, I don't. I just don't want you to cross a line that you can't come back from." 

Beatrice pressed the gun harder against his head. "They drew the line when they took Ava from m- us." 

Realisation finally hit her. 

Beatrice's scorched earth campaign was so close to home it had taken seeing it in person to recognise the similarities. 

The actions were so similar to what Mary had done in her mission to find out who killed Shannon. 

For Mary to even compare the two situations was enough for her to realise that whatever Ava was to Beatrice, it was more than simple friendship. 

Mary took a chance and took a few more steps closer. 

"Bea, you're hurt, badly too, by the looks of it." 

"I'm fine." 

"Not if we don't get you patched up soon. Don't do this, this isn't you." 

"God will forgive me." 

Mary closed the rest of the distance and rested a hand on Beatrice's shoulder. "But will you forgive yourself?" 

Beatrice was silent, her stare focused on the man beneath them and all Mary could do was watch as her jaw twitched. Watch the way Beatrice's eyes closed. 

"I know the path that you're on, Bea." Mary said softly. "And I know how angry you are, but this won't change anything. Killing him won't make you feel better and it won't get us to Ava any faster."

Mary heard the door open again behind them and knew in her heart that Camila and Lilith had reached them. 

She didn't dare look. 

Didn't dare take her focus off of Beatrice. 

"Don't give in to this, for Ava's sake. For  _ your _ sake. We're going through hell and we need to hold on to who we are if we're going to survive it." 

Mary could feel Beatrice shaking under her touch. 

"You don't have to do this alone." Mary whispered. "We are going to save her." 

"Please, she's as good as dead. Your all are." The shooter said. 

Beatrice's eyes snapped open to stare down at him, her fingers were slick around the trigger. 

"Beatrice!" 

The gun clicked. 

Mary's heart was trapped in he throat as she stared at the weapon. 

Had it jammed because of the amount of blood coating it? 

Was it empty? 

And if it was, had Beatrice  _ known _ ? 

His eyes were wide as he opened them. 

Mary wouldn't be surprised if he had pissed himself from fear. 

The gun slipped from Beatrice's hand as age turned her head to meet Mary's gaze. 

"I'm so tired Mary." 

Mary had never seen Beatrice cry before, but now the tears filled her eyes freely. 

Beatrice didn't resist as Mary pulled her into her arms, supporting her weight as her legs finally gave out and together they sank to the floor. 

Lilith wasted no time crossing the room and driving her fist into the shooter's face, sending him to the ground. 

As Beatrice's body shook, Mary knew that something had finally broken. 

Even her grief was silent. 

"I just want her back." Beatrice whispered into Mary's chest. 

Mary looked up to where Lilith and Camila both stood, watching them both with equal pain in their expression. 

"I know." Mary replied as she cradled Beatrice's head. "I know you do."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> these chapters are kinda shorter than I'd like, but just to get personal for a minute (mostly bc people rarely read this part)   
> Even though i've had this entire fic planned out since November, it's really fucking hard to write. it's so hard to get into the head space i need for it and a lot of the time i'm not in a good enough place myself to write characters i love in so much pain all of the time.
> 
> I'm committed as fuck to seeing this story through, but it's just going to take a little longer
> 
> But hey, moment over - hope you're all enjoying it
> 
> And i deffo hope you've got some theories about wtf is going on
> 
> but as always, you can find me [here](https://yashastrongarms.tumblr.com/)  
> Also i'm on [twitter!](https://twitter.com/RogueThirteen94)
> 
> Take it easy, stay safe and love to you all


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